


Voltron Stables (Voltron Horse Rider AU..?? I'm sorry..??)

by NadiasGhost



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I kinda just sneezed and this happened there was no planning involved, I will add more of the squad later, Lance Needs a Hug, Lance and his sister's share clothes, Lance has like 6 sisters rip, M/M, No spoilers yet don't worry, Self Harm, Shiro needs a nap, Whump, chapter 2 ft. more redneck assholes, even for the purpose of plot, help her, horserider!keith, i dont know why, i want the sweet release death would bring, if you wanna know why i wrote this get drunk and watch a couple seasons of Heartland, lance's anxiety, ouch keiths feelings, ouch lances feelings, ouch my feelings, pidge needs to watch their language, rated "gt" for how dependant I am on google translate but also for what a good time it is, rated teen for Pidge's language and Lance's internal monolouge, stablehand!lance, that one really gay "i've got you buddy", the ultimate "y-you too", this author has accidentally created more than one timeline for her story, this author regrets many things, this author started liking Lotor's character while writing this and felt bad making him an asshole, too much accidental reference to 2008 taylor swift, voltron crack, voltron horse au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-01-08 01:24:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12244404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NadiasGhost/pseuds/NadiasGhost
Summary: Based off of every horse movie ever (because every horse movie follows the exact same plot line??): Lance is a stable hand looking to make some money. Keith is a broody jumper guy. Shiro is at Uni and Allura owns a horse farm. I.... Really.... Don't Know.Now ft. Angst, Lance's many feelings, Lance's badass sisters, Keith's many feelings, Pidge and Hunk being the best friends everybody needs, Shiro being the dad everybody needs, Lotor being a lil' shit, Zarkon as a wealthy old southern white ranch owner who doesn't care that his son is a lil' shit, ~ Allura being a queen ~





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You: more like Cherry Ice Cream pls that was good  
> Me: *begins to write more cannon-verse Klance*  
> Me:  
> Me: hOW aBOUT a hORSE AU INSTEAD?!?!
> 
> This is smol and good and pure? I promise? Based on every horse movie ever because pretty much every horse movie follows the same plotline?? Trigger Warnings: Lance and his sister are both dealing with anxiety/ panic attacks and also mentions of/ reference to self-harm.  
> Everything about this is a hot fucking mess.. But tell me if you want more of this AU I have SO many ideassss for it

OKAY. SOME ESTABLISHING HEADCANNONS FOR “VOLTRON STABLES”. 

-Allura has been around horses her entire life. Her dad moved them into a small living space under the family barn after Allura’s mum died. (He couldn’t deal with the big house). 

-Lil’ Allura was a home-schooled horse geek and she took over the farm at 18 when her dad passed on. She takes in horses in need and kids in need. 

-Prime example: Keith Kogane. She offered this lil’ emo nugget lessons in exchange for help around the farm and now he’s the best jumper his age for miles and a happier lil’ bean. (Still working on people skills though.)

-Keith even adopted a horse, named Rouge, who he works for Allura to pay for. She’s Damaged Goods™ as well and Keith is pretty much the only person who can ride her. 

-Shiro drove Keith to a lesson one day, saw Allura, and forgot how to English. After that Shiro insisted on driving Keith to his lesson every week, Keith eventually just told Allura his brother thought she was cute, and she asked Shiro out for coffee. 

-They’ve been dating ever since, and Shiro can usually be found at the barn, even though he’s super busy full time university student running on expression and faith. He brings Allura and Keith slurpies on hot summer days and tea on cold winter ones. 

-Shiro carries secret treats for the horses- carrots, apple slices, breathmints- and they all love him. 

-In between Allura’s lessons and Shiro’s classes they can usually be found cuddling on the couch in Allura’s office while Keith shouts about “doing all the work in this place….”

-Hunk rides a horse named Sunshine, who’s a retired work horse ( he’s also a massive Clydesdale who’s a total sweetheart). They do jumping and a little bit of dressage. Allura owns Sunny, but is planning on giving him to Hunk as a Christmas present, so long as Hunk promises to let her use him for beginner lessons because he’s such a gentle sweetie with kids. 

-Hunk is experienced, he helps Allura teach, as well as take people on trail rides. 

-Pidge rides a bunch of different horses, and they help Allura work with new arrivals. They’re helping to train a new pony named Twiggy, who’s a little TOO sassy for his own good. 

-Shay boards a horse named Rocky at the stables, who everybody calls “Rock”, or “Dwayne”. She stops by to ride or to talk to Hunk. 

 

**

 

All Lance had wanted was a weekend job. He needed the money.

 

He was still living at home with his mama and his nana and his two big sisters and his four little sisters, and he was trying to save for his own university next year because God knew there wasn’t enough money for that, even though everybody wanted there to be. 

 

He’d made on friend so far in this teeny tiny town and that one friend was amazing and named Hunk and had told him to apply at the stables he rode at because the owner just couldn’t resist damaged-good teenagers. And it was true, Allura hired him without pause to do maintenance jobs even though it was clear she didn’t have money in her ever tightening budget to do so. And Lance was appreciative, he really was. 

 

But not so appreciative that he was going to let some little city jumping boy with an ego bigger than the population of his entire state boss him around. Keith Kogane: Broody Horse Whisperer. Show-jumper. Unapologetic Asshole. 

 

“The horses won’t like the gate if it swings in,” Keith said quietly from behind him. 

 

“The hell do you mean, “the horses won’t like the gate if it swings in?!”” Lance demanded, crossing his arms and standing his ground, “they’re horses. The hell do they care about my design choices?”

 

“What--?! I--!? I mean,” Keith growled, dismounting and stomping over to Lance, “the horses won’t tolerate a gate that swings the wrong goddamn way. So fix it.”

 

Lance stepped back and out of his space, spreading his arms. “You really expect me to believe that?! You’re just screwing with me. I don’t know what your problem is but--!”

 

“Look stable boy,” Keith cut in, icily cold and biting, his eyes flashing dangerously, “there are things you don’t understand around here. If you can’t do it right, I’ll do it myself.”

 

“Oh, yeah, because you and your mullet are safe to operate power tools,” Lance snarked, “I--”

 

Somebody was scooping him up and carrying him away from the argument. 

 

“Huuuunk,” Lance whinned as he was hauled away from both the gate and the angry boy. “The gate does need to swing outwards,” Pidge quipped from Lance’s elbow, and he hung his head in defeat. He liked Pidge, but did they always have to be so goddamn right all the time?? 

 

“There are two rules, Lance,” Hunk admonished with little anger, “two rules at the stables, what are they?” Lance sighed, then murmured, “don’t piss off any of the horses. Don’t piss off Keith Kogane.” Hunk nodded as though satisfied, and set Lance down. 

 

The air was starting to heat up properly at mid-day, the weather changing from spring to true summer. Lance shrugged his sweatshirt off and tied it around his waist. “I’m gonna go re-bolt that fence--” He started. 

 

“Just a second,” Pidge quipped, grabbing hold of the back of his shirt, “give Kogane at least five minutes to cool off before you go back. I don’t know how you fixing the gate could possibly piss him off, but it’s you two so…. I don’t wanna risk it. You’d find a way.”

 

“There seems to be nothing Keith enjoys more than yelling at me.”

 

“Keith’s capacity for social interaction is about on par with the average fifth grader. I’m pretty sure if he ever liked anybody his first move would be to pull their pigtails. You should feel flattered,” Pidge deadpanned. Lance snorted out a laugh, “somehow, I’m just not feeling the love.”

 

Hunk swung up and over the fence into the back field and the shorter two followed. “Seriously though,” Lance persisted, nudging Pidge, “his whole horse whisperer thing. The broody staring off into the middle distance, the talking to the horses like they’re people, that’s not…. Normal, right?” Pidge rolled their eyes. 

 

“You know, I didn’t take you for the power tools type, Lance,” they said absentmindedly, watching Hunk as he made his way over to Sunshine. Lance scoffed, “well, yeah, you know. I’ve got two older sisters.. One of them is an engineering major and survivalist nut, the other is a volunteer firefighter. I’ve pretty much absorbed basic fix-it work via osmosis.”

 

Pidge laughed, then their smile turned mischievous. “You wanna ride Sunny?” They asked, motioning to the horse Hunk was fussing over, “I won’t tell ‘Llura. And you can probably convince Hunk not to tattle on you.” 

 

Lance almost forgot how to walk for a second, tripping over his own feet. “I…. No…. That’s okay, Pidgeon,” he managed. Twiggy came hesitantly over to them, then nuzzled at Lance’s shoulder. “Lance.” Pidge said seriously, “you’ve been on a horse, right?”

 

“....no?”

 

“HUNK!” Pidge yelped, startling Twiggy and Lance, “LANCE’S NEVER BEEN ON A HORSE!” Hunk whirled around. “LANCE,” he shouted, “YOU’VE NEVER BEEN ON A HORSE.” 

 

“WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP!” Lance yelled, “I told Allura I had some experience so she would hire me! No, I’ve never been on a horse. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to take care of them.” “Oh buddy,” Hunk laughed, “grab my helmet and get the hell over here.”

 

**

 

The wind rustled through the trees and the horses snuffled soft sounds to each other. The ground was dry and the dust picked up under boots and hooves, shimmering in clouds in the noonday sun under a wide and clear sky. The air was starting to heat up, spring to summer. Lance took a shaky breath, clipped his helmet on, and let Hunk swing him up onto Sunshine. There was no saddle, only a bridle, a pad and the feeling of his powerful muscles. 

 

Lance smiled to himself. 

 

“Oh yeah, baby!!” He called, and Pidge yanked at his ankle. “Don’t kick like the cowboy movies, okay?” Hunk said from the ground, “squeeeeeeeze with your legs, and give his some of the reins.”

 

Hunk stepped back and made a clicking noise, “walk on, Sunny.”

 

Sunshine sighed, and if horses had the physical capability to roll their eyes in the same fashion and with the same connotation as humans, he would have. He abandoned his grass and began to walk slowly around the ring. Pidge and Hunk whooped and hollered as Sunny moved steadily under Lance, muscles shifting and ears perked uprights towards Hunk. 

 

The sound of an air horn tore through the peacefulness of the farm, and Lance jolted. Sunny froze, and then his head thrashed, yanking the reins out of Lance’s hands. Lance yelled something unintelligible as Sunny took off at a gallop. He struggled to grab her mane and was falling sideways and the saddle pad was slipping and his brain was whiting out with panic. Behind him, Pidge and Hunk were yelling, running after Lance as the other horses in the field ran circles in a blind panic. 

 

I am going to fall off this horse, Lance thought. I’ll most likely break something. Allura will fire me. Oh god, Keith Kogane is going to see me fall off and you know what if I break my leg I’m going to cry in front of him. 

 

Some part of the years of dealing with panic kicked in and Lance’s consciousness soared to a place just above himself, a place where no danger was imminent, and he could breath without really breathing. He’d been more scared than this in his life. 

 

He picked a spot on Sunny’s rearing head without meaning to, and began to speak. Not horse words, certainly not commands, but something that came as naturally to him as fix-it work these days. “You’re safe, you can get through this, I’m here for you,” he said breathlessly, clutching at the leather straps and feeling his tongue get cut between his teeth. 

 

“You’re safe, you can get through this, I’m here for you,” he repeated, pulling back on Sunny’s mane until the gallop became a canter became a fast trot became a confused walk. Hunk swam into view, panting, and holding Sunny’s face. “Lance! Lance, are you okay?!” 

 

“I’ve got you, Maria,” he responded dazedly, “don’t worry, it never lasts forever.”

 

Keith Kogane’s loud and angry voice also swam into Lance’s awareness. “LOTOR!!” 

 

In the parking lot an expensive car was spinning circles around Keith, picking up dust and spitting out loud music. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS!?” Keith screamed at the car’s driver. The guy riding shotgun leaned out the window and yelled something back, unintelligible to Lance over the synthesized beat of the music, and then the driver floored the gas in Keith’s direction, turning on a dime and accelerating so fast Keith had to throw himself out of the way. 

 

Keith let loose a stream of curses the followed the car as it peeled out of the gravel lot. 

 

Lance looked down idly at the pulling sensation on his leg, and realized as the world turned sideways that Hunk was, in fact, helping him off of the horse. 

 

Keith hopped the fence, running towards the three of them, and Lance braced for the “Lance, what the fuck were you doing!?” Instead rough hands were checking him all over for damage, and Keith was talking unintelligibly fast with HUnuk about what had happened while Lance stared up at his face, backlit by the noonday sun. 

 

Holy shit. Keith Kogane was beautiful. 

 

“....maria,” Keith said, and Lance frowned. That was his sister’s name. “What,” he asked dumbly. Keith pulled his hand away, and Lance pouted. “Who’s maria?” Keith asked again. “Oh, um, she’s my sister.”

 

“Why were you talking to Sunshine about your sister,” Pidge asked quietly, offering a steadying hand. Seeing how without Keith or Hunk holding him upright, Lance was beginning to fall right over. “Oh, um. She has anxiety, and Sunny was having anxiety,” Lance explained. Keith laughed, a really, really fucking pretty laugh. “She got spooked. By that idiot, Lotor.”

 

“What?” Lance asked. Keith was still pretty but he was…. Sideways now. “Lotor rides at Zarkon Stables. His dad owns the place. They’re are main competition. Sometimes he comes over here with his buddys and pulls stupid, dangerous stunts like that.”

 

Lance nodded. “I think I’m going to puke now,” he responded. 

 

** 

 

“I can’t face him, Pidge. He hates me now,” Lance moaned. “Lance,” Pidge whined, “you can’t hide in the tack room forever. Keith doesn’t hate you--”

 

“I threw up on his fancy horse boots,” Lance said for the thousandth time that morning, “there is no way he doesn’t hate me.” The door flew open, and Lance tensed, but it wasn’t Keith. It was his Shiro, Allura’s adorable university boy. 

 

“‘Llura’s got a new mare,” Shiro announced. He then handed both Pidge and Lance a coffee, nodded to himself, and continued on his way. “Shiro,” Lance called after him, “they’re like, twelve.” 

 

“Shut the fuck up, I’m thirteen,” Pidge retorted, taking a long draw from their coffee. Lance sighed, and the two of them made their way outside. 

 

“She’s not letting anybody near her,” Keith said to Pidge, ignoring Lance. The new horse in the closest paddock was nearly entirely white with dark brown markings. One eye was dark brown, the other electric blue. She looked terrified, pacing up and down, looking at the three gathered teenagers out of the corner of her eye. 

 

“Her name is Blue, because of her eye,” Keith said softly. “She’s beautiful,” Pidge breathed. She turned and began to pace the other way, and Lance frowned. “What are the black lines on her leg?” To his surprise it was Keith who answered him, and politely. 

 

“A previous owner tried to put her down. She has scars all up one leg from the needle.” 

 

As Keith drifted off to attend to other chores, Pidge and Lance edged closer to the gate. “I’m going to go find Hunk so he can see the new mare,” Pidge said. “Uh-huh,” Lance murmured, entranced. Pidge sighed and left him. 

 

As soon as they were gone, Lance stuck a hand through the fence. Blue whinnied and reared trotting away from him and blowing air hard out of her nose. “Hey, hey, hey!” Lance yelped, bringing his hand back, “it’s okay, girl. I’m not gonna hurt you.” Idly, he realized he was doing the one thing he kept making fun of Keith for, addressing horses as though they were humans. 

 

“I know what it’s like to be scared. Don’t you worry though, the people here are so nice. Hunk will always give you hugs when you’re feeling down and Pidge is so funny and smart. Have you met Keith yet? I bet he scared you half to death but don’t worry, you’re a horse and he’s way nicer to horses than he is to humans. Shiro and Allura are great too they’re going to take such good care of you.”

 

He took a step forwards, “you have scars on your leg, hun? Hey, well, I’ve got some too.” Lance rolled up his shorts, past the line that marked the difference between tanned and untanned, to reveal fade red slash marks across his upper thigh. “It’s okay, girl, you’re okay.”

 

“Are you flashing the new horse, McClain?” Lance whipped his shorts back down to their appropriate length, blushing, as Allura came to stand beside him. 

 

“Allura,” he said, watching as she extended a hand to Blue. Blue whinnied nervously, and stared the hand down, but didn’t spook. “I want to ride her,” Lance blurted out. Allura looked at him sideways for a moment, then said, “well nobody can ride her now, she needs time to adjust, and a LOT of training. But if that’s a goal for you we can get you on a practicing on another horse in the meantime.”

 

She looked out across her pretty farm and said, “Keith owes me one. He can give you lessons. Saturdays, noon, don’t be late.” Lance started to protest, mind swirling and stomach erupting into a mess of emotions, but Allura cut him off. 

 

“Lance, you really need to fix the gate. It needs to open the other way.”


	2. ~the one time Lance McClain's ass almost got him killed + the one time somebody else's ass almost got him killed~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He snatched them and ran, confident she would sleep through his intrusion into both her room and drawer. 
> 
> But he was regretting that as he forlornly made his way off the bus and towards the farm. Because the shorts were short. Really short. 
> 
> “Lance!” called a familiar voice, “nice pants!”
> 
> “Says the kid wearing camo cargo pants,” he shot back, unfazed. Pidge feigned offense, but very quickly recovered. “‘Llura called in some guys to re-shoe some of the horses. Summer competitions for bragging rights coming up and all that. Some of the paddock horses are pretty worked up so approach with caution, okay?”
> 
> No problem. Lance liked all the horses at Voltron. Yes, Allura took in “problematic” horses, and that meant dealing with a lot of delinquent horse behaviour; but for the most part, Lance liked all the horses. 
> 
> Except for the fucking Clydesdales in paddock four.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I.... dunno guys.... Here's some more horse stuff. it's a good mix of me making up horse backstories and then real bullshit that's actually happened to me lmao we've gotten into the weird situations I've actually experienced part of this horse au and idk how I feel  
> I am gonna write more of this tho im feeling it.. fucking.. tell me what you want kids, I have many ideas about how this series could go and they're all equally angsty and crack-y at the same time   
> Also if anyone is wondering about Lance's sisters:  
> Sofia: 7, baby of the family, thinks Lance is really cool (plot twist he's not, he's a huge dork)   
> Novia: 11, likes sports, wants to be taken seriously  
> Maria: 13, tomboy, skateboards, anxiety, a cool cat maybe i'll actually write her in idk yet  
> (Ede)Lira: 15, really shy, history nerd, loves Lance but thinks he's too loud  
> Isabella: 19, survivalist nut, engineering major, very opinionated but also kinda shy and awkward, pretty much Lance's best friend   
> Camila: 21, firefighter, not filter, baddass, will fight anyone, dresses very girly/ spandex-y while not on duty, taught Lance to punch, terrible cook, protects all the McClain kids

Lance liked all the horses at Voltron. Yes, Allura took in “problematic” horses, and that meant dealing with a lot of delinquent horse behaviour; but for the most part, Lance liked all the horses. 

 

Except for the fucking Clydesdales in paddock four. 

 

His weekend routine was easy and simple these days. Wake up to his sister’s alarm-- the fire fighting one, she was always up early as fuck, though Lance loved her-- coffee, catch a bus or a ride with his mama into town, then catch a bus out of town and into the countryside, get off and walk down the dirt roads to Allura’s farm in the middle of nowhere (okay, not actually the middle of nowhere but everywhere is farther when you’re bussing instead of driving), say hello Hunk and Pidge, avoid Keith Kogane, clean the fields, clean the paddocks, then do any repair work. 

 

In the afternoons he’d catch a ride with Hunk or Allura back into town, look longingly on all the resturants in their little square of civilization, remind himself why he was saving, and bus home to collapse back into bed. 

 

Everyday, all was good (barring Keith Kogane), until paddock four. The paddocks were, generally speaking, for horses who didn’t get along well yet with others. Twiggy was still in the paddocks most days, though Pidge was working on her, because she had a tendency to eat people's pockets, and persistently annoy the larger horses to no end. After she’d started receiving nip marks from the larger horses, Pidge had rolled their eyes and relocated her. 

 

Lance liked Twiggy, he could deal with the pockets thing. Though she was sassy, she was a sweetheart. 

 

Paddock two held Karma and Bean, a pony and an ex-racer who were inseparable. Bean was a brilliant escape artist, the field fences simply couldn’t hold him, and Karma’s social skills were not what they used to be. Out of all the horses at the barn, Karma seemed to get along only with Bean. 

 

Lance liked them as well, he was always careful coming in and out that Bean not escape, and he liked when Karma used him as a scratching post, it was cute. 

 

Of course in paddock three was Blue. Since she’d arrived Lance had been oh so careful to make slow predictable movements around her, to be quiet and steady and gentle. He had a growing anxiety, the kind that sat just in the bottom of his stomach like a rock, about Lotor’s boys coming back with their airhorns and spooking Blue. Though she was for the most part beginning to calm with Allura’s persistent love, she still looked at Lance with wild eyes, and he knew if she ever really panicked, she could break her way out of the paddock. 

 

Maybe she could even jump it’s fence. She used to be a jumper after all, or so Shiro had been telling them. She had amazing potential but after losing a rider she stopped letting anyone saddle her. She was too unruly, she wouldn’t let anyone touch her, wouldn’t take a saddle, wouldn’t leave her paddock. 

 

Supposedly the stables she was at could no longer afford a prize horse that wouldn’t compete, and, at night, led her into a moving trailer and tried to put her down. She fought the men holding her, breaking several ribs and one man’s leg, bucking and shrieking and kicking. They scarred her all up one leg trying to find a vein for the needle and when they couldn’t, they let her to bleed in the trailer. 

 

Lance supposed she was still reeling, he knew the feeling. Allura had saved her but she’d had to move her to Voltron Stables in a moving trailer. 

 

When he went in Blue’s paddock to clean she was extremely hesitant but she allowed him to enter, staying as far away as possible, watching him out of the corner of her eyes. They circled each other as he worked, both giving the other space. 

 

But paddock four. Oh paddock four. 

 

Clydesdales were the friendliest giants, Lance KNEW that, he loved Sunshine. But Vale and Duke were…. Awful. They’d worked pulling carriages in some old re-build of a settlement town attraction, and their owners had been awful to them. Lance knew that, that was why he cut them slack for their shenanigans. But every day without fail Allura would enter their paddock and give them breakfast and they’d fall all over themselves to be nice to her and then Lance would enter their paddock and he’d end up having to fend them off with the handle side of his rake because they wouldn’t stop harrassing him. 

 

They weren’t even afraid of Keith. 

 

Vale would try to take huge bites of his hair and Duke would use his massive weight to try and throw Lance into the electric fence. Every minute he was in their paddock was nerve racking, the moment he turned his back they’d sneak up on him, so he had to be continuously watching them. 

 

Allura said she was slowly improving their behaviour but Lance just couldn’t see the improvement so far. 

 

On this particular morning of all mornings, Lance had awoken to find he had absolutely no clean clothing. The source of this disastrous circumstance was no mystery, he’d put off doing laundry for two weeks, and now he was paying the price. But his bus was leaving in ten minutes, he hadn’t made coffee, and he really didn’t want Allura to fire him. 

 

So he yanked on a dirty tee-shirt off the floor, decided it was just too hot for jeans now that summer had fully arrived, and did what any sane short-less individual would do. He rushed to somebody else’s drawer. Because surely, the other members of his household did THEIR laundry. 

 

Maria wore mostly boy’s clothing but she was like 5 sizes smaller than him, Camila wore pretty much only her firefighting uniform and spandex which was OUT OF THE QUESTION which left…. Isabella. He yanked open her bottom’s drawer. Jeans, jeans, pencil skirt, jeans…. Gym shorts! 

 

He snatched them and ran, confident she would sleep through his intrusion into both her room and drawer. 

 

But he was regretting that as he forlornly made his way off the bus and towards the farm. Because the shorts were short. Really short. 

 

“Lance!” called a familiar voice, “nice pants!”

 

“Says the kid wearing camo cargo pants,” he shot back, unfazed. Pidge feigned offense, but very quickly recovered. “‘Llura called in some guys to re-shoe some of the horses. Summer competitions for bragging rights coming up and all that. Some of the paddock horses are pretty worked up so approach with caution, okay?”

 

“Will do, stable captain,” he responded with a quick and sarcastic salute. 

 

Every field and paddock went off without a hitch. He avoided Keith even more than usual, considering the blue and purple gym shorts situation, but other than that things were normal. He was getting better and better at calming the especially anxious horses, he helped Twiggy, Karma, and even Blue settle a little after their re-shoeing ordeal. 

 

And then he got to paddock four. 

 

Three guys, the type Lance used to associate with small town farms, were hanging out a few feet away in the back of rusted pick-up, drinking beer and laughing. Of the three, only one was actually doing any re-shoeing, the other two apparently there for moral support. The one actually reshoeing had a large self-standing piece of machinery, plus an assortment of tools. He wasn’t too much older than Lance, but he appeared to be sober and quite obviously bored, replacing the shoe on one of Duke’s front feet with an assortment of careless clanking sounds. 

 

Oh no. 

 

Lance figured the only way to know if it was safe to clean while they had Duke out was to ask. “Excuse me, do you think it’s okay if I go in?” The guys in the back of the truck gave him a once over before one drawled, “sure, no problem sweetheart.”

 

Oh, totally believable. Clearly very concerned for Lance’s safety. 

 

He’d momentarily forgotten about the gym shorts situation, but now he was more acutely aware of it than ever. He blushed and looked decidedly ahead, at Vale who was still in the pen, and walked past the re-shoeing team. 

 

He yanked the fence open. 

 

It was painfully clear they were talking about him, but he went about work as usual, keeping an eye on Vale and trying to keep the scowl off his face. Lance didn’t scowl. Plus, he needed Allura to NOT fire him. 

 

But of course the guy re-shoeing Duke dropped a set of plyers, and Duke reared, kicking the fence, and Vale snapped to attention, nostrils flaring, his eyes narrowing in on Lance from across the small space and Vale charged at him, kicking up dirt and mud. 

 

Lance yelped and gripped his rake, waving it wildly and then banging it against the fence like a wip. It made a loud cracking sound and broke, the noise abrupt enough the Vale stopped, inches from Lance’s face. 

 

A sound of a whip cracking, splitting the air, snapped right over Lance’s shoulder. Keith Kogane was on the other side of the electric-lined wooden fence, shouting something Lance couldn’t process until he’d repeated it for the fifth time. 

 

“Get out! Get out of the paddock!”

 

Lance hopped back to attention and fumbled to undo the gate, stumbling out of the enclosure. Keith pushed his hands out of the way and re-did the gate’s lock himself, then he took Duke’s reins from the re-shoeing boy’s hands, and turning on them. 

 

“Who the hell are you? Where Teller?” Keith demanded of them, turning and facing each, eyes burning. “We--” the one who’d spoken to Lance stuttered, “h-he’s Teller’s son, y’know? His apprentice. And we was just helpin’ him!”

 

Duke shoved Keith and Keith shoved back. “Get off this property now,” Keith said evenly, “I will tell Allura what happened, and she will tell Mr. Teller. Go! Now!”

 

They stumbled back into the car, Teller’s son scrambling into the driver’s seat. 

 

Keith rounded on Lance, “Where the fuck is your common sense, McClain?!”

 

“What!? Why is this my fault!!” Lance squaked. Keith struggled to get Duke into the paddock and Lance reeled. Last time when he’d almost fallen off Sunny, Keith had been so nice and concerned. 

 

“Because I can’t be watching every goddamn person on this farm at all times. Next time something is clearly off, come and tell me, don’t just hop on into a pen with a horse that’s all riled up!”

 

“I didn’t know what to do! I just do what people around here tell me to do!” Lance cried, gesturing widely. He stopped when he realized he still had a piece of broken rake in his hand. 

 

Keith took a deep breath. “I know, I was just--” He looked down, then up at Lance again. He picked up the whip he’d used to scare Vale off the ground. “Take this in with you when you do paddock four,” he said quietly. 

 

Lance accepted the whip, but tensed again at Keith’s next words. “Next time, be a little smarter okay? I have to go call Allura.”

 

**

(the next day)

He had the whip now. He had the whip and he was golden. Of course he’d never use it ON one of the horses, but the sound it produced kept them from approaching him, and that meant he could clean paddock four without issue. 

 

The sound of hooves over gravel grabbed his attention and, after checking both Vale and Duke were far away, he looked up to see Hunk and Pidge trotting after Keith along the driveway. 

 

Hunk was on sunshine, tall and laughing about something or other. Pidge was on Twiggy, heavy on the reins and totally unconcerned as they fought for leadership. And Keith…. Keith was on Rouge, nearly as tall as Hunk and extremely straight in posture. He held his body ridgid and his chin up like a plastic soldier toy, one arm on the reins and one resting on his thigh. He didn’t look concentrated, he looked at ease in the saddle, as though this sort of posture came completely naturally to him. 

 

“Hunk, quit messing around,” he threw over his shoulder. 

 

Lance should’ve been checking on the Vale and Duke but alas…. Keith.

 

He felt sharp teeth graze his ear and then Vale had a mouthful of his hair and Duke was scooping up of of his legs. He yelped and the three riders turned, laughing. 

 

“You good, buddy?” Hunk called. Lance hastily cracked the whip and the two horses retreated, but not before a good chunk of his hair was chewed. “Fine!” he called, patting his ear for damage. Keith rolled his eyes, smiling, and led Lance’s friends out the front gate. 

 

“We’ll be back!” Pidge shouted to him, “hold down the fort while we’re gone, Lance!”

 

“Will do, stable captain!” he called back, but he sighed watching them go. He wanted to go with them. 

 

His stomach lifted as he turned back to check on the Clydesdales, he was getting on a horse tomorrow. He had a lesson scheduled with Keith.


	3. Lance's First Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And there he was. Keith fucking Kogane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Klance y’all’ve been waiting for lmao…. (Actually that's a lie this is gonna be the slowest burn to ever burn)  
> I’m having one of those days where my brain is the consistency of a melted slurpy so Lance gets to enjoy it as well because that’s the only kind of narration I can do rn oops   
> This is really fucking short but like its important happy Klance is important thanks   
> Week 3: has Lance fixed the gate yet? NO.

The day was hot. So hot Lance’s brain was melting and he swore he could see the heat rising off the dusty riding ring floor. It was hot enough to cook an egg outside on the ground and Lance was beginning to feel a little cooked himself, which was never a good sign.   
And there he was. Keith fucking Kogane.   
Already Lance’s mind was beginning to slip and squirm. At the best of days his head was…. Uncooperative. But on hot days his brain matter seemed to change consistency from a solid to a liquid, swirling around and down useless drains of thought, until he swore it might all start pouring out his ears.   
If he’s Asian, why do people make Texan jokes about him? Is he from Texas? Hunk said he was Korean, but the name Kogane is a girl’s name that means “little gold” in Japanese.   
He doesn’t say ya’ll, and he doesn’t have the drawl. Maybe the Texan thing is just an in-joke.   
God, he’d still be hot with the drawl. Is that bad?  
Lance’s eyes re-focused themselves, every horse movie he’d ever seen beginning to filter back out of his head. Keith was wearing cowboy boots. And riding pants. Fuck.   
Keith avoided his eyes and began to pull his hair up into a ponytail. Uhhhhhhhhhhh….  
“Hot today, isn’t it?” Keith muttered awkwardly, small talk that wasn’t bossy not being his forte. Lance blinked slowly, willing his syrupy brain back into place. The ponytail and the peices of hair falling out around his face and….   
“Hot,” Lance breathed in agreement.   
Keith came to stand beside him, still looking at the ground instead of Lance. “Since this is a favour to Allura, I’m going to have you on Rouge, my horse. She can be a little skittish at first, but I’m not worried about you, McClain.”  
“Ouch, it’s good to know you care so little for my well being, cowboy boots,” Lance shot back automatically. Keith stiffened, blushing. “You KNOW that’s not what I meant!” he huffed indignantly, his face just barely visible to Lance under the hair that was falling down in his eyes, “I just meant that you…. Are naturally calm and…. Forget it, Lance. Come on, I have her tacked up.”  
Lance followed the sulking Keith out of the blaze of the sun and into the stables, laughing silently as the shorter boy tugged his shoulders up to his ears.   
Rouge was tied at a post, her eyes roaming curiously. Lance extended a hand. “Helmet,” Keith said roughly, “Lance, you don’t just reach out to a horse.”  
“Sunshine lets me reach out to her,” Lance muttered, while doing as he was told. “Sunshine isn’t a nervous trainwreck,” Keith replied without pause. Lance laughed at his blatancy, then turned, helmet balanced on his head. “Good?”  
Keith stepped forwards into his space, snapped the buckle under his chin, met his eyes for half a second and then stepped away.   
“You have to turn sideways,” Keith said quietly, still to close. Lance did as he asked shuffling awkwardly and then looking at Keith for approval. Keith rolled his eyes, “not sideways to me, idiot. Sideways to the horse.” Lance coughed and nodded, internally letting out a small shriek. Come on brain, he pleaded, just this once, just today, let’s NOT act like an idiot.   
Lance approached Rouge sideways, and for a second he saw the flash of nerves in her eyes, before she extended her neck, nostrils flaring, and sniffed at his hand. “She’s okay,” Keith said quietly, voice low, “pat her face.” Lance did, and Rouge lowered her face still looking at him.   
“Okay, come on, I’ll give you a leg up.” It took Lance’s slushy brain about a minute to compute Keith’s offer, and by that point he’d already stared awkwardly for far too long. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure.” He walked around to the side to Rouge, running hands down her neck so she’d know where he was, and gripped her mane with both hands. “So do I just--”  
Keith grabbed his knee and hoisted him up above Rouge’s saddle, effectively seating Lance’s butt on his shoulder. “Come on Lance, you’re fucking heavy,” he ground out, and Lance managed to swing a leg over and sit himself up into the saddle.   
He smiled, untangling his hands fro Rouge’s mane, and scratching whatever part of her neck he could reach. “Hey, good girl.”   
Keith still had one hand on his knee, and another on his ankle. “Comfortable?” he asked, finally looking up at Lance.   
Holy shit. Keith Kogane was beautiful.   
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Keith moved his hands to help guide Lance’s foot into the stirrup. He gave the back of Lance’s ankle a squeeze. Lance swore Rouge was laughing at his sudden inability to speak as Keith walked around and did the other one.   
Keith’s hands were definitely spending too long on Lance’s legs. Not that Lance was complaining.   
“Give me the reins, Lance?” Keith requested quietly, holding out a hand. Lance had never been so quick to throw a steering wheel to another person in his entire life. Shit.   
With no reins, he held on to Rouge’s mane again as Keith led them out of the stables and back into the glaring sun.   
**  
Apparently Keith Kogane had no concept of the word “fear”. Not in the edgy, cool way, oh no. In the “what the fuck, you idiot” way.   
“That’s too fast, Keith! I can’t do all these things at once!” Rouge was bumping around and it was NOT good for his slippery brain.   
“You’re TROTTING, Lance. Allura had me trotting on day one.”   
Oh, NOW it was on.  
Problem was, no matter how much Lance was in it for the competition, he was actually relatively afraid of any speed faster than a walk. Maybe it was due to the Lotor incident.   
Apparently Keith wasn’t afraid of fast, and couldn’t fathom how Lance would be, so he wasn’t even being NICE about it. Lance was going to have to suck it up.   
“Take a deep breath, Lance,” Keith instructed, his voice even. Lance couldn’t help himself. “Take a deep breath, Lance,” he mocked, voice warbling with nerves and the bounce of the horse. Lance expected Keith to yell, to raise his voice, to snap because Keith was so good being calm with horses, and so bad being calm with humans.   
But Keith only got, infuriatingly, more calm. “Rouge responds to my voice commands, Lance. If she gets excited and out of control, I can stop her with two words. What I need you to do right now is take a deep breath, and sit deeper in your saddle. Move with her.”  
Lance could try to breath, even though it felt like no oxygen was going into his lungs, he could do that for Keith. “Now the next time you pass the gate, Lance, I want you to drop your reins, and just let your hands rest above her shoulders. “  
“What?” Lance squeaked. “You’re not really steering right now,” Keith explained, and even though Lance was too terrified to look, he could tell that asshole was smiling, “let go of the reins and she’s still going to keep going round the circle.”  
Letting go of the steering wheel seemed…. Counter intuitive.   
But he did. The reins came to a bumpy rest over Rouge’s neck, and Lancefelt his hands shake as he sat taller. Keith let out a whoop and Lance glared, though he was still watching his hands and couldn’t direct it at the shorter rider. “Fuck off, Kogane! Don’t make her scared!”  
“She’s never scared of me, Lance!” Lance could hear him moving somewhere off in the center of the ring, and he tried to focus on breathing. “Okay, Lance--!”  
Fuck.   
“--I want you to take your hands now, and put them on your head. Don’t you worry about Rouge, she’s just fine. Come on, where’s the fearless idiot that got on a horse two weeks ago?”   
Lance slowly lifted his hands to the top of his helmet. 

"Lance! You're doing amazing!" Keith hollered close by, "take your arms and put them out, like you're a plane." 

Lance slowly extended his arms, feeling the wind catch at his hair and ripple across his t-shirt. Keith let out another whoop. Lance would've said his volume was uncharacteristic, but Keith seeming to be generally completely unapologetic about everything he did, apparently including his stupid, excited (possibly Texan) cheers. 

"Lance! You're doing great!" Lance finally took his eyes off Rouge, and looked out at the dizzy, bumpy world around him. Slowly, he looked over at Keith. Keith was turning with him, and his speed suddenly felt in slow motion, seeing it all relative from the ground. 

Keith wasn't static. Sure, he had the whole broody thing going on, but hearing his voice now, he was lit up. Lance smiled at him, beginning to laugh, and Keith smiled back, ecstatic and beautiful. 

Rouge missed a step, and Lance jostled forwards slightly, gaze snapping back to his hands. "Woah, girl!" Keith said immediately, calm, sure and assertive. Two words.

Lance shook his head, panting slightly. "It's okay, it's fine, I'm good." And he was good, he was fine. 

"Okay then. Walk on, Rouge," Keith continued. Rouge's ears pricked, and she jostled back into motion. 

"One more lap, then I think that's good for today," Keith called. Lance turned to him and their eyes met, and Keith was still alight with that same happy fire. 

Pidge's voice pierced his happy moment. 

"When you two nerds are done Heartlanding it up, there are important things to be done! Like driving this child to get a slurpy-- this child being me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment what you wanna see next cuz I have so many ideas and no direction lmao


	4. Seriously This Isn't Even A Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then his awkward smile turned sly, "I'll admit, dry humping a stack of riding gear is never a good time to make a daddy issue joke." 
> 
> "That's not what posting is!!" Keith yelled indignantly, startling Rouge. 
> 
> "Keith! Volume!" Shiro reprimanded. "Whatever, Dad," Keith responded, the snarky nickname automatic. "Dad?" Lance joked hopefully, looking around as though searching. 
> 
> "Oh. My. God." Allura pleaded, standing up and leaving the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting is really weird to describe?? Google it if you don't know what it is??

"Keith keeps saying the next step will make trotting easier, but I think he's a fucking liar," Lance pouted, sprawling dramatically across the feed counter. Pidge swept him off and onto the ground with a squawk, and Hunk laughed at the two of them. 

"Lance," hunk finally managed to wheeze, "you need to learn to post which WILL make trotting easier. Also aren't you supposed to be doing work?" 

Ignoring the second question, Lance bounded up to him, "oh merciful horse senpei, teach me to post!" 

Hunk rolled his eyes, and it was Pidge who responded. "You fucking weeb. Hop on a horse." 

** 

Lance was situated on Sunshine, and his trot was even bouncier than Rouge's. "Lift, now, Lance!" Hunk hollered, a cross the ring. 

"I don't think it's working!" Lance hollered back, trying in vain to lift his legs and move with the horse. 

"Bring her in let's try something else!" 

**

"This.... Is a trotting simulator." 

"That's a pile of gear with a saddle on top," Lance responded, unimpressed. Hunk deflated only slightly. "It's really helpful Lance, shut up." 

They were facing a precarious pile directly in front of Allura's office, although she and Shiro were too busy cuddling and arguing softly and respectfully over budgeting to notice Lance wasn't really doing any work. 

Lance carefully clambered into the saddle, and then spent a good 15 minutes with Hunk pinching his knee in time and Pidge rocking the saddle to simulate a horses gait. "Up, up, up." 

Keith strolled in, took one look at their shenanigans, and strolled back out. 

"Keith!" Hunk called, "come back, we need your help! Lance isn't getting it!" 

"Oh, please, just advertise that I'm an idiot," Lance snarked, with no real bite. He was out of breath from what was essentially elevated squats and his cheeks were blotchy and pink. 

For a minute it seemed like Keith would ignore them, but then he turned around and came back. "The stirrups on that thing are too short for him," Keith said with little infliction, and to nobody in particular. He pushed past everybody's hands, and then grabbed Lance's leg, hoisted it on top of the saddle, and began working on the strap for the stirrup. Lance squeaked.

He went around and did the other side without so much as looking at Lance, and then held the saddle steady. "Post," he said quietly. Lance lifted himself up, smiling awkwardly and seeking even a nod of approval. Keith was looking at his foot. "Keep your heel down," Keith mumbled, smoothing a hand down the back of Lance's leg. "Post." 

**

By the time Allura and Shiro had sorted the budget, her moving on to mixing horse feed and him moving on to homework, Lance was apparently sufficient enough at posting for Keith's liking. The backs of his knees tingled where Keith's hands had stayed too long, and he was still pink, though the sun was starting to set, the air loosing it's heat. 

Lance was now sat comfortably in the saddle, chatting with Hunk. Keith was brushing his horse, although from the way he was avoiding everyone's eyes, Lance was worried something was up with him (besides his usually broody act). 

"I'm starting to get it, but like, I still don't get how essentially grinding on this stack of riding gear is gonna help me post on a horse," Lance joked to Hunk. Perhaps a far stretch, but Lance McClain wasn't known for his verbal filter. 

"Lance! Language!" Shiro yelped, looking up briefly from his homework. "Who made you my dad?" Lance retorted easily. Shiro gave him a serious look, somewhat far away and melancholy, "under this roof, I am unfortunately everybody's dad." 

"Good, because mine left when I was twelve," Lance joked half heartedly. The room faced him with big eyes. "Shit, was that bad timing?" He coughed, embarrassed, "I.... Me and my sisters joke but.... Don't be awkward guys, it was a joke." Then his awkward smile turned sly, "I'll admit, dry humping a stack of riding gear is never a good time to make a daddy issue joke." 

"That's not what posting is!!" Keith yelled indignantly, startling Rouge. 

"Keith! Volume!" Shiro reprimanded. "Whatever, Dad," Keith responded, the snarky nickname automatic. "Dad?" Lance joked hopefully, looking around as though searching. 

"Oh. My. God." Allura pleaded, standing up and leaving the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmaooooo I promise to write another real actual chapter soon


	5. eVeN mOrE KLanCe wItH LAnCe NaRrAtIOn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, he and Rouge were on the same wavelength. 
> 
> Lance hollered in excitement, eyes never leaving his hands on the reins. Keith hollered something back, but he couldn’t feel it. Him and Rouge were moving as one, rising and falling, the world blurring around them. 
> 
> Lance liked to go fast too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so fucking predictable wow…. but somehow also so fucking all over the place????   
> Sidenote: “mulleted” is an actual word lmao

This chapter is so fucking predictable wow…. Sidenote: “mulleted” is an actual word lmao. Rouge is obviously kinda the red lion, and Lance loves that she goes fast. 

“What’s he doing?” Lance asked over his shoulder to Hunk, eyes never leaving Keith’s rotating form in the round enclosure. The thunder of hooves could be heard plainly from where they stood across the packed dirt driveway. 

“Lunging Blue,” Hunk whispered back. As they watched, Blue’s circles began to slow, and Keith stepped forwards into her space, the ship in his hands snapping behind him to create a deafening crack. Blue shinned, eyes wide, and sped up, picking up dust and dirt and frantically continuing to run circles around Keith. Keith looked quite small now, in comparison to her anger and fear and presence. 

Lance realized Keith was mumbling to her, saying something inaudible to the two boys stood a good ten feet away from the fence, watching. 

“Trot,” Keith said quietly, strangely quiet for the atmosphere of the ring. Blue looked at him, but just as quickly whipper her head back up, her nostrils flaring. “Easy, girl, trot,” Keith said again, impossibly softer. Blue slowed, and when Keith asked, she slowed again to a walk. 

As they watched, Keith dropped his whip, and held a hand up for Blue’s attention. When she did not look at him, he began to back up slowly, looking away and at the ground. “He’s testing her,” Hunk whispered, “trying to see if she’ll come into him. Lunging is about respect, and trust. It’s about being on the same page. If the horse comes to you when you ask, you let it rest, if not….”

“Send her back out again, Keith!” Allura called from behind Lance, “she’s not listening to you, look at those ears!” Allura laughed a tinkling laugh, and Keith picked up the crop again. He snapped it, and Blue stumbled back into motion.

****

There was yelling, and it sounded close, on the farm. Lance’s first thought was Lotor…. But then he ran outside and--   
Blue was running frantic circles, attempting to escape Allura, Shiro and Keith, who had formed a wall and were trying to keep her back. The gate to her paddock wasn’t broken…. 

“She’s a jumper!!” Allura called, and it wasn’t worried, it was estatic, “you should’ve seen the height she got jumping her fence! It was incredible!” 

“Stop being so excited about her knack for escaping,” Shiro responded, but there was laughter in his chastisement. 

Blue reared, and nearly caught Keith with one of her front hooves. “Woah girl!” Keith shouted, voice straining. 

Lance stepped forwards and raised his hand before he even consciously made the decision to. 

Blue trotted forwards, then took a step back, and Lance watched in awe. Her ears were forward, listening. Their eyes met, and Blue shied away. Lance looked purposefully at his shoes, his heart in his throat. 

He felt the warm breath on his side first, then the press of her nose. Allura gently got hold of her mane-- before slipping a lead line around her. "Hey, Blue," Lance whispered, and her ears perked up. "S'ok now, s'ok." 

**

"You wanna go fast?" 

It was Keith Kogane asking, so obviously the answer was yes. "Um, yeah, sure. What do you mean?" 

"I think you've got the hang of trotting, we haven't worked on leads or framing or anything, but your diagonal is getting much better." As Keith spoke, Rouge slipped and Lance lost his diagonal, suddenly on the off-beat. "Lance, PLEASE, diagonal," Keith reprimanded. 

Lance huffed, trying desperately to search for Rouge’s rhythm. Keith and Rouge were such a good team, but it seemed to Lance like him and Rouge weren’t quite on the same frequency. He felt like he was holding her back, and annoying her. 

“Rouge wants to go fast,” he commented to Keith, who laughed. “Rouge always likes going fast,” he laughed to Lance from the ground. Lance looked over to him, and keith wasn’t done talking. “So do I,” he finished, looking up at Lance, shielding his face from the sun with a hand. Fuck. 

Lance swallowed, completely losing Rouge again. “Lance, diagonal!” 

“I’m trying, mullet!” 

“I don’t have a mullet!” 

“Let’s just go fast already,” Lance mumbled. 

“Bring her in then, Lance,” the definitely mulleted boy called. 

Lance and Rouge trotted clumsily into the center of the ring. “Okay,”Keith said, smiling a wider, more reckless smile than Lance had ever seen on him, “what you’re going to do is called cantering, and you’re not going to be scared.”

“You saying that kinda tips me off to the fact that I’m gonna be scared,” Lance retorted automatically. Keith rolled his eyes. “Trust Rouge. Trust me.” Keith walked forwards to pat Rouge, “I’m going to show you how you ask for a canter. Take your outside foot-- say I’m the inside right now-- take your outside foot and put it back. Put your outside shoulder back a bit. Sit tall, okay. Put this inside foot,” he grabbed it and positioned it, ”up here so you can squeeze and apply a bit of pressure.” Keith walked around Rouge to Lance’s “outside” foot. “Pick this one up a bit and give a small kick. Rouge is really sensitive, she’ll get the message. And talk to her,” Keith’s hands were still both on Lance’s ankle, “tell her to go fast, she knows the word “fast”, and the word “canter”.”

Keith went slightly pink for a minute, and dropped Lance’s ankle. Lance thought at first that he’d finally realized how touchy he was being, and how in was affecting Lance. But then he murmured, “you can also say “gettup”, she responds to that.” 

It took Lance a minute to process. “You-- you fucking cowboy! You are from Texas, aren’t you!” Keith glared, “they’re HORSES, Lance, they’re supposed to respond to stupid verbal commands.” 

“Yes, but “gettup”?!” Lance’s smile turned mischievous, “come on, y’all!” he hollered, “get after them cows! Look, Rouge, one’s escapin’! We gotta runner, fellows! Ya! Gettup, Rouge!” 

By the end of his poorly accented cowboy triad Keith looked ready for murder. He was blushing like mad, and he slapped Lance’s knee harder than necessary. “Let’s see you canter, then,” he said roughly. 

Lance returned Rouge to the outside ring, still laughing and flushed, and began to trot. “You’re not going fast until you get that diagonal!” Keith hollered after him. It took a painfully long time but finally, FINALLY, he bounced into the right diagonal. “Okay, Lance, you can ask now!” 

Rouge didn’t need to be told twice. He pacing changed, and at first Lance was sure he was going to fly off and onto his butt in the hard packed dirt of the ring. “Move with her, Lance!” 

Finally, he and Rouge were on the same wavelength. 

Lance hollered in excitement, eyes never leaving his hands on the reins. Keith hollered something back, but he couldn’t feel it. Him and Rouge were moving as one, rising and falling, the world blurring around them. 

Lance liked to go fast too. 

**

“What are you doing, Keith.” It was Allura, so she didn’t sound mad, just like a disapproving mother. “Teaching Lance to ride,” Keith responded evenly. Lance set his helmet in its bin and braced himself. These two idiots could fight anyone about anything. “Have you taught him leads or framing? Lance can’t even get his diagonal right!.. Not offence Lance,” she amended, smiling sweetly at him. “None taken, your majesty,” Lance responded easily, wandering off in search of water. Allura ran the barn like it’s own country, and people had taken to calling her it’s Queen. 

He didn't wander so far however, that he would jeopardize being able to eavesdrop. “Lance is doing..” Keith paused, lowering his voice and thinking, then finally settling on, “fucking amazing Allura. I’m just teaching him what I think he’s capable of.” 

“He never signed safety wavers, Keith. And Rouge, she’s a sweetheart, but she’s not the most stable horse. If anything happens--” “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to Lance. He has the confidence, that’s what Rouge needs right now. And when he doesn’t have the confidence, well…. I’m working on that. I got this Allura.”

Lance stepped back into the room and they jumped apart, as though they hadn’t just obviously been talking about him. “Allura, I’ll make you a deal. You stop chewing out Keith for being an excellent teacher, and I’ll finally fix that gate.”

“Fine,” she conceded, unconcerned that Lance had clearly heard them talking. She ruffled Keith’s hair, and began to walk to her office. “Hey, hold on,” she paused in the doorway, “Lance, you have to fix that gate for your JOB. That’s what I pay you for!”

Lance smiled cheekily and ran. 

**

The gate had been fixed. It had been genuine work and Lance was covered in oil and wood shavings from the ground and general horse dust. But he didn’t mind. He was happily finishing his chores for the day, the problematic paddocks, when he got to Blue’s. 

She’d been much more curious and talkative since Keith had started working with her, and as Lance entered her space she made a small sneezing sound and approached him cautiously. Out of curiosity, he put up his hand. Like the one time she’d been out of control. She came trotting over to him, eyes wide. 

He reached out to pet her, and she shied away. He took a deep breath. “Hey, Blue,” he murmured, “I don’t wanna hurt you, I just wanted to give you a pat. I thought that might be nice.” He angled his body sideways to avoid looking intimidating and continued. “Would that be okay, pretty girl? If you don’t feel comfortable you can always walk away, that’s okay. I won’t be offended. But if you want, I’m always here for a pat, okay?” As he talked, she approached, until his hands were on her nose. 

He slowly moved them to her neck, running light hands over her fur. It was matted in places, she wouldn’t let even Allura brush her, so Lance started to work out some of the dirt with his fingers. 

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he was slowly moving over her flank to her back, working out tangles of dirt, when Keith Kogane spoke up. “I’m going to come in, do you think that would be okay, Lance?”

Lance spoke to Blue, not him. “Keith’s gonna come into your space, but don’t worry. He may seem scary, but he’s really not. And he’s got, look he’s got a little blanket with him. Isn’t that nice?”

Lance smoothed his hands over Blue as he spoke. “Say, “hi, Keith. How are you?”” 

“She likes your voice,” Keith responded from behind him. Lance nodded, deathly afraid of Keith spooking her. “This is just a saddle pad,” Keith directed at Lance, trying to match his tone, “a light one. Do you think you could take it and pet her with it for a bit. And then-- if she’s ready-- you can put it on her back.” 

Lance nodded, and reached back for the saddle pad. Their hands brushed, and Lance breathed shakily before addressing Blue again. “Look at this saddle pad, you lucky girl! It’s just like a blanket! See, warm.” Lance layed it over one of his own arms. 

Finally, after 5 uneasy minutes, Blue accepted the saddle pad. Lance looked at her in shock and amazement. “We have to tell Allura,” he whispered excitedly over his shoulder to Keith, “this is great, right?”

When Keith didn’t respond for a moment, Lance turned. Keith looked up at him, a new kind of expression on his face. “Lance, this is amazing. I-- I didn’t think Blue would ever take to tack again, you’re--” 

In one motion, he swept Lance up into a hug, which was quite a feat considering the foot of height Lance had on him. Lance was still with shock, and barely moved until Keith was already on his way back to the barn, calling over his shoulder, “I’m calling Allura!” 

All Lance had wanted was an easy summer job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for their first show I have plans (smiles evilly in contemplation)   
> Also I wanna take requests/ prompts for Voltron related stuff, can be set in canon or an au whatever y'all want I'm open right for requests :)


	6. The Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “YOU HAVE A BROKEN ANKLE!” Shiro yelled. “I TOOK SOME ADVIL!” Keith yelled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jesus this is 6 chapters now this was supposed to be a joke people. A joke. A crack fic. It's gotten away from me but I regret NOTHING.   
> This chapter is set about a month after the last one

6:15 in the AM was too fucking early for Lance McClain. 

Isabella turned off the radio as they pulled into the driveway. Lance pouted at the sudden loss of his Taylor Swift. “Now are you sure you don’t need any help, don’t need me to come help my widdle brother with his ponies?” she teased, taking a hand off the wheel to poke Lance. “Both hands on the wheel you idiot!” was all he responded, poking her back. 

“Don’t poke the driver!” She shouted. As they pulled (slightly crookedly) into a parking space, she turned her always wide eyes around to sweep the farm. “It’s so pretty here Lancy. I’m serious, are you sure you don’t want any help? I could help your tall dark and handsome jumper boy braid his pony’s hair.”

“That’s it! I am leaving the car!” Lance announced, hand on the handle. “Ooh maybe you could show me Blue, or….” She paused, evidently spotting Allura Altea, because the next words out of her mouth were, “I could go talk to your cute friend.”

“She’s my boss, she has a boyfriend, and you’re SO NOT getting out of the car,” Lance responded firmly, “besides, don’t you have class or something?” “It’s 6:15 in the AM, Lance, I don’t have class for two hourssssss.”

She sprawled dramatically across him and he hastily popped open the door. “Why don’t you sit in the cafe,” he teased, climbing out of the car. “Don’t you start!” Isabella squeaked, turning red nonetheless. “You know I hear there’s a really pretty barista there, what’s her name….”

“STOP IT, LANCE!!” She hollered after him through the open door. “GIVE HER YOUR NUMBER, IZZY!!” he hollered back. 

She stuck her tongue out before pulling the door closed and stepping on the gas. 

Oh God, it was cold too. What the hell?! It was mid-july, the days were so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Why was the morning so COLD?

“Because the sun hasn’t risen yet, you dingus,” Pidge eloquently informed him. 

“Lance,” Allura called, and he turned instantaneously. Allura had that effect on people. Her smile always tricked you into thinking she could have only joyous news to relay. “I still employ you, do I not?” 

Was this a trick question? “Yes, you do….” He said slowly. 

“Then why haven’t any of the horses been fed?” She asked, never mean but teasing. “Because it’s 6:15 in the morning,” he responded, confused. Allura just rolled her eyes. “We’re leaving in a half hour with the loaded truck and I need you at the show all day, so you better get to your chores now.”

“A half ho- All my morning work, plus feeding takes so much longer than that!” he squacked indignantly. “You better hop to it then!” she grinned, “and take the shortie with you!” Lance turned to Pidge. “C’mon Gremlin, you heard the lady.” 

When the sun was finally done creeping into the sky, Lance’s hands were sufficiently numb and feelingless. 

But Shiro, over-planning godsend that he was, had arrived promptly at 6:30 with coffee and poptarts and a carload of blankets. 

Allura began to sprint, as though about to leap into his arms. But as he spotted her, she swerved, and clambered into his car, in the backseat. “It’s warm in here,” she called in her own defense, slamming the door. Pidge hopped on a similar train, climbing in after her. 

“I’ve got to call the man with the trailer, can you take this to Keith?” 

He handed Lance a VERY large coffee cup with “horse idiot” written across it by the barista, and then a smaller one, with only the sign for 2 creme and 2 sugar. “You drink coffee, yes?” Shiro asked. “Yes, yes, I do, thank you, oh angel of the heated drinks,” Lance praised. He hugged Shrio briefly before taking both cups. 

Shiro promptly turned back to his car to stick out his tongue at Allura, as though to indicate he’d gotten his hug anyway. “Some people are grateful for the kind gifts I bestow upon you crazy people,” he said as Lance walked off. Lance could hear giggling and then the car door opening, much to Pidge’s indignation. 

Allura said, “come here, you.” At the same time Pidge yelped, “close the door, close the door!” 

Lance wandered into the stables with the two coffees, and foolishly, in that moment, he thought nothing further could surprise him about Voltron Stables’ mulleted wonder. 

Keith’s hair was braided. Not just his mullet but a french braid from his hairline down to the nape of his neck, where it ended in a tiny knot. Keith’s eyes widened as he heard the door open, and as soon as he saw it was Lance, he blurted out, “it needs to look neat for the show!”

Lance took a few seconds to breath before he could properly fire back, “why don’t you just cut the mullet off?” “I like the mullet,” Keith mumbled. “What?” 

“I like the mullet,” he mumbled a little louder, then blushed profusely and turned away from Lance. 

“I have coffee.” THAT made him turn back. As he took the cup, Lance thought it only logical to check in with him. It was just a Lance thing, too many years of looking after sisters and friends he supposed. “You nervous?” He asked quietly. 

Keith shrugged. “I don’t get nervous.” OF COURSE NOT, KOGANE. “.... At least not about shows,” Keith amended. He sipped the coffee and smiled into it. 

Lance thought perhaps that was it, that he was being dismissed, but then keith nodded to Rouge, behind him, and smiled at Lance. “She’s all ready to go.” Rouge’s hair was braided into careful, intricate knots, her tail braided half way and brushed. 

“She looks beautiful,” Lance breathed, at the same time Keith nodded and mused, “she’s ready to kick some private school ass.”

“Private school?” Lance asked. He walked to Rouge, running a hand down her neck. She leaned into his touch and Keith huffed. “Yeah, private school,” Keith responded, “the stables we’re going to is an expensive club place, “Zarkon Stables”, Lotor’s dad owns it, it’s named after him.”

“Oh and nobody told me we were going into the lion’s den?” Lance yelped indignantly, “I would’ve worn a nicer sweater!” Keith rolled his eyes, “you’re brushing the dirt off of horses feet, you don’t need to look pretty.”

Lance didn’t know how to respond, so he stuck out his tongue. 

**

Lance was wrapped in two blankets, nursing his coffee, sat in Shiro’s backseat. And Keith was outside, chatting up some girl. 

He scowled. It was just him and Pidge in the car, the others outside warming up and checking times and apparently, flirting with the competition. 

“I get it,” he finally burst out, “she’s pretty, eh, Pidge?” They looked up lazily in response to his volume, and rolled their eyes, before falling back into their small nest of blankets in the front seat. 

“I mean, I betcha if I was out there, she’d be into me too,” he pressed, poking Pidge in the side, “y’know, if I wasn’t wearing the stupid work clothes, but instead that pretty coat and it’s little collar shirt and his little coattails, and high-waisted--”

“You jealous of Keith, or the chick?” Pidge called, their voice muffled. Lance made a strangled noise. “Keith! Obviously!!” 

“Uh-hun,” was all Pidge responded. They couldn’t find out about his crush. 

“Okay,” Lance allowed, “so maybe I--”

“I don’t care,” Pidge called. 

“--like Keith,” Lance continued. 

“Still don’t care,” they responded. 

“I totally like Keith,” Lance sighed, leaning forwards on the passenger headrest. “Don’t care.” He shook them, “but I want you to gossip with meeeeeee.”

“You’re terrible at keeping any secret, aren’t you,” they laughed. He nodded sadly. They shook their head, and motioned to the girl. “Look at what she’s wearing,” pidge commanded. 

“Something nicer than me?” 

“No, you dingus. Nice jeans, wrist watch. Jewellery. She’s not competing, and she’s not a stable hand, jewellery isn’t allowed on grooms, it can catch on the leather straps. Speaking of, take that necklace off before we go in,” Pidge gazed out the window at the women, with a mix of admiration and fear. “She’s not a coach either, I know them all. She’s a talent scout. Come to watch the show and see who does well, who tanks. Keith can spot them, and he knows to chat them up. Only time I’ve ever seen him be polite, or give any attention to a girl other than Allura.”

Lance felt the tightness in his chest dissipate, and he blushed at his own reation. As Lance watched, he realized they were right. Keith was being…. Polite. 

“Puts extra pressure on everybody here, though,” Pidge continued, “especially if they’re a serious rider.” She turned to Lance. “Now, what you and I need to do: is go find Lotor. He’s somewhere here, and I want eyes on him the entire show.”

“You’re concerned about him doing something?”

“It’s Lotor, I’m ALWAYS concerned about him doing something?” 

**

“We have eyes on Lotor. I repeat, we have eyes on Lotor.”

“Pidge, stop calling me on my cell,” Allura’s frustrated voice responded. Lance stole the phone out of his idiot friend’s hands. “Sorry, your majesty,” he said quickly, shooing Pidge away from Lotor (who, admittedly, was conferring with another rider from Zarkon stables in a sketchy way). 

“Lance, bring Pidge and get your asses down here please, the riders are tacking up,” was all Allura responded. She was stressed too. 

….

“Pidge, you help Hunk tack up Sunny, I need the two of them warming up in 15 minutes.” Pidge saluted Allura, and ran off to find their resident rays of sunshine. “Lance, I need you to tack Rouge up, Keith’s taking a minute. Check her for injury, and brush her down.”

“What happened to Keith?” 

Allura shook her head, “he’s fine. Can you go please? We’re on the clock.”

Allura was being genuinely sharp, something was up. 

Lance found Rouge in the trailer. He calmed her, and started to brush her gently. Keith had already made her sparkling this morning. He slid her saddle pads and saddle on just as gently, and felt down each of her legs for any nicks from the trailer. Finding none, he wrapped each leg carefully, and reached up to pat her face. 

“Keith’s coming,” he assured. 

As he spoke Keith and Shiro rounded the corner and Keith threw himself up into the trailer. He looked briefly at Lance, his eyes undeniably red-rimmed, before pushing him aside in the small space, headed for Rouge with a halter. 

“What’s up?” Lance asked Shiro, selecting his words carefully. 

“Nervous,” Keith called over his shoulder roughly. 

**

Keith and Hunk made the warm up arena look effortless. Then they made the first round of jumping look effortless, then the second. So did Lotor. The guy was a pompous prick, but he glided over the jumps on his white gelding like a figure skater. Between each run of the course Pidge ran to Hunk and Sunny, offering water and expertly checking everything that needed to be checked. Lance ran to Keith and Rouge, handing Keith up a cherry gatorade, running hands down each of Rouge’s legs at Shiro ran strong reassuring hands over his legs, and Allura explained the next course to him. 

He misjudged Lance’s location and ended up smacking Lance in the face with the now empty gatorade bottle. He didn’t apologize or realize what he’d done, and turned Rouge in a circle as Lance took the bottle. Keith and Hunk lined up again. 

The arena was indoors. People milled around the polished wood stands as the third course was given to each rider, and the stable hands and grooms were all in a flurry of motion to clean down their horses and tidy up their riders. The ceiling above them was tall, and let in slanted beams of light, and the way the entire building was design, a cool breeze filtered through the space holding the horses, riders and their teams. Even so, Lance was now sweating, the blankets of this morning now but a far off memory. 

“The third course is very technical,” Shiro explained to him as the starting buzzer sounded yet again, “these are all technical courses, because they’re jumper class. But I think this one is the most brutal.” 

Watching Keith ride was like watching weather roll in. It’s was unstoppable and beautiful and in an odd way frightening. Keith hit every jump easily at an effortless canter, and through the second straight away of the course, began to coo a few gentle requests for Rouge to slow to a trot. “Slow down, Keith,” Allura mumbled under her breath. Lance gripped tight to the empty bottle in his hands. 

Rouge was too nervous, and Keith was too nervous. She sensed it on him, and wouldn’t slow. She cantered the last two jumps, and had to be stopped by Allura at the gate. 

“Shit, shit, shit, shit--” Keith dropped his reins, entrusting his direction to Allura, and to Rouge herself.

“It’s okay, Keith,” Allura tried to reassure, cutting Keith off, “your form was perfect. This is jumper, it’s all about style. You did amazing, all we can do is wait for results. 

“Lotor hit his trotting mark,” was all Keith managed, before he took off at a gallop, tearing out of the arena holding bay and into the stable grazing land outside. 

“Should I go after him?” Allura asked, blinking back dust. “Let him get it out,” Shiro said, shaking his head, and pulling her in for a hug. 

**

They were about to announce rankings, and Keith was just returning from his emotional-outburst gallop-off adventure. Hunk paced, and Pidge chirped along at his shoulder. Shiro had both horses, and Sunny was nuzzling at his side. Lance was waiting impatiently with an empty, crushed gatorade bottle.

“From what I can tell, the main competition is Lotor and Acxa from Zarkon, our Keith and Lance,” Allura whispered to him, “there’s only three podium spots.”

“IN THIRD PLACE OVERALL,” the loudspeaker boomed, “REPRESENTING VOLTRON STABLES--”

The room collectively turned to Keith in surprise. Not only had he lost to Lotor, he’d lost to somebody else as well. 

“HUNK, ON SUNSHINE!”

Again all heads swivelled, and Hunk’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “T-this is my first year riding this show! I- I made podium?!” Pidge leaped up to hug his leg and soon everybody from Voltron was clamoring to congratulate him.”

“Congrats, Hunk!” Keith yelled happily from his seat on Rouge. 

The commotion was too much for Lance. 

“IN SECOND PLACE OVERALL!--”

Keith looked up at the speaker, then at the scout woman, sitting in the top row of seating. 

“REPRESENTING ZARKON STABLES--”

Keith’s eyes widened, and he looked to Allura for explanation. 

“LOTOR, ON BLANCA!”

“I didn’t make podium,” Keith said quietly. “There’s still the hunter groupings, Keith,” Shiro was talking over the noise, “and there’s another show next month, and this one again next year--” 

“AND THE SENIOR JUMPER CLASS THREE FOOT CHAMPION--”

Lance exhaled. 

“REPRESENTING VOLTRON STABLES, KEITH KOGANE ON ROUGE! WELL DONE ALL RIDERS!”

Keith’s eyes’ widened until he no longer seemed to be looking at anything. Shrio pulled him down and into a hug, and soon Allura and Pidge were piling on, Pidge pulling Lance with them into the whole mess. Keith was crying. Allura was crying. 

**

“It’s not over yet, team!” Allura announced. The horses were untacked and grazing, Hunk and Keith had gone to collapse in the backseat of Shiro’s car, and Pidge, Lance, and Shiro were sat down in front of Allura in the grass near the trailer. 

“Really? Because I feel pretty done,” Lance complained, falling over to rest his head in Pidge’s lap. “Relax, the next round is hunter. Hunk’s not riding Sunny, because she’s not by any stretch a hunter horse, but Keith is riding. And it’s Keith speciality. We just need to support him and Rouge and they’ve got the rest,” Allura grinned. 

“Remind me again what hunter is?” Lance whispered to Pidge. “Same thing as we just did,” she whispered back, “but timed. Whoever finishes fastest, without knocking over a jump, wins.”

“Right, it’s the speed round,” Lance nodded, “we got this then. Keith likes to go fast.”

**

Lotor wasn’t exactly one to accept a loss. The judge’s call in the jumper show had been bullshit. Keith Kogane had no real control over his horse-- letting the beast led him rather than leading the beast-- and Lotor was done haven’t them coo and cheer over his pathetic performance. 

Kogane hadn’t hit his trot marker. 

It was bullshit. And Lotor wasn’t having any of it. Not in HIS stables. 

As the idiots of Voltron stables stumbled over one another to prepare Keith for his first ride in the hunter ring-- college boy brother giving him the pep talk, the short one and the big one his cheer squad of two, the new kid-- Liam McCarthy? Llyes McCleery?-- staring up at him with those big lovesick puppy dog eyes and Allura….

Allura Altea all happy and paying utmost attention to that would be high school drop out Kogane. 

Lotor pulled Ezor aside. In her black riding breeches and steel grey leather jacket, with her long pink hair tied up in a tight, sleek ponytail, she looked like the bad girl out of an old movie. Ready to jump in her souped-up sports car and tear up a patch of highway just to let off steam. 

Point of fact, Lotor knew she had a sports car, he’d bought it for her. It was easy to buy loyalty around here. But not trust, he knew that. Narti always gave off a guarded edge, somewhere underneath the glam, and that edge was his clue that at least part of her personality was an act. He knew, and he tread carefully around her. 

“I need you to do what we discussed,” he said leisurely, leaning against a pole that supported the stable roofing. He inspected his fingernails for dirt as Keith Kogane’s start buzzer sounded. 

Ezor nodded, winked, and was gone. 

**

It had all happened so suddenly. All Lance knew was that Keith was hurt, and he was clambering clumsily over the fence separating them so he could help. The announcer was yelling incomprehensibly into the microphone, and the people in the stands were rising up. 

Rouge was wild, eyes rolling, rearing in the air and screaming like she’s been electrocuted. Keith was on the ground, his torso collapsed just slightly too much, and his leg twisted just slightly the wrong way. 

Something was very wrong, Keith should be calming Rouge. 

She was going to trample him. Lance saw the blow descending in slow motion, and he threw himself onto Rouge, unaware of what he was saying. He was speaking, to Rouge, he could tell. But he couldn’t tell what he was saying. Shiro was there, throwing arms around Rouge’s neck to pull her away, and it only served to panic her more. 

“Stop it!” Lance wanted to yell, “stop it! She doesn’t like that!!” 

But all he could do was keep talking in his auto-pilot stream of consciousness towards Rouge. Allura flashed in and out of the corner of his eye, hands all over Keith, checking for blood. 

Eventually Shiro gathered Keith up into his arms, and started carrying him back towards the car. People crowded them, the first aid attendant, other grooms, the announcer. 

Keith looked back over Shiro’s shoulder, eyes wide. “....Rouge--”

“I got you, buddy,” Lance heard himself say from a distance, “don’t worry about Rouge.”

**

“It’s not that badly hurt, Shiro!” 

“So stand up on it then!” Shiro retorted, hands solidly on his hips, “you’re going to the hospital, and that’s that.”

As he spoke, Keith rose from the backseat of the car, bore weight on both his legs, screamed in pain, and fell back into the seating. 

“Keith, stop,” Shiro begged, as the rest of them winced, “it’s hurt, you need--”

“I need to finish this competition,” he half-demanded, half-sobbed. 

“THERE WILL BE OTHER CHANCES FOR YOU TO PROVE YOURSELF!” Shiro yelled, angry like Lance had never seen him. “You’re being stupid, and you’re being stubborn, and you’re making this harder than it has to be.”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND,” Keith barked back, glaring at him. For some reason, Lance had assumed they always got along, but now, they were fighting like family. 

“NO. OF COURSE I DON’T UNDERSTAND,” Shiro yelled, “WHY WOULD I UNDERSTAND ANYTHING?”

“IF NOBODY BEATS LOTOR HE WILL GET THE PLACE AT THAT SCOUTER’S BARN,” Keith yelled back. That made Shiro fall silent. “They’ll offer it to him-- especially if he rides well two weeks from now-- and he’ll take it. And you know they only offer so much and to so many riders from a tiny, nowhere town like ours, Shiro.”

“It’s true,” Allura whispered, “Lotor taking hunter champion will greatly lessen anybody else’s chances of getting the in with that scout.” SHiro threw his hands up in the air, walking away from the both of them. 

“You CAN’T ride,” Pidge pressed, trying to look Keith dead in the eyes with their unarguable stare. He looked away, and flexed his jaw, but he didn’t argue. 

“Sunshine isn’t a hunter horse,” Hunk said quietly, “and I can’t ride Rouge.”

“I’m too young to be allowed to compete in the senior division,” Pidge sighed, kicking one of Shiro’s tires, “and Allura can’t compete ‘cause she’s a coach and she’s too old as of last year.”

Keith was muttering to himself now, pressing gingerly on what was very clearly a twisted, perhaps even broken ankle and hissing as he did. 

“I can ride in Keith’s place,” Lance whispered. 

Every head snapped his way. Keith looked up at him, and something flashed in his eyes, before he said a very firm: “NO.”

“C’mon, you’ve been teaching me to jump-- so what if Allura knows-- you’ve been teaching me to jump and I know all the technique. It doesn’t matter if I’m sloppy, I just need to do all the steps and Rouge will go fast.”

“No,” Keith repeated. Their eyes locked, and Lance felt a sense of fear he hadn’t felt since his first week of work, when Keith had yelled at him for hinging the gate the wrong way. “Absolutely not,” Aluura concluded, echoing Keith, “you’re inexperienced, and this is a three foot course. What good is disabling another one of our riders?” 

“But I’ve practiced--”

“Yeah!” Keith yelled, and again he demanded all of Lance’s attention, “on one foot jumps in the ring at home! With me talking you through it! With me talking to Rouge and practically holding your fucking hand! There is NO WAY I am sending you out there to ride in Zarkon’s ring!”

“You’ve been riding for what? A month now?” Shiro said softly. Not harshly, just logically. “Two months?”

“Dude, if Allura, Shiro, AND Keith are all agreeing on something, you should listen,” Hunk said sadly. 

“.... What’s the harm in trying?” 

Everybody but Lance looked at Pidge like they’d just sprouted an extra head. “Excuse me?!” Keith asked incredulously. “I mean it,” Pidge pressed, “either he loses terribly-- which would suck-- but would ultimately render us right back where we are now. Unfit for competition, and with Lotor getting all the good shit. OR he wins, and it buys our asses some much needed extra time.” They turned to Lance. “No offence buddy, but given the odds I can forsee about a 2% chance of that actually happening. But as long as you don’t do anything STUPID, and get hurt…. What’s the harm.”

“No,” Keith said. “No,” Allura said. 

“Keith, can I please use your horse?” Lance begged. 

“Absolutely not,” Keith snapped back. 

Lance employed his famous McClain puppy eyes. Desperate times called for such a measure. “Pleeeeease, Keith?” 

**

“Can you please just carry me down there?” Keith persisted, “if he’s going to race Rouge, I’m going to be there.”

“YOU HAVE A BROKEN ANKLE!” Shiro yelled. “I TOOK SOME ADVIL!” Keith yelled back. 

“FOCUS, YOU TWO!” Allura scolded. 

“Lance,” she continued, turning to him, “you remember the process, yes? Good. Here’s Keith’s blazer, and his entrance number.” Lance leaned down from his perch on Rouge to accept her gifts, tugging on a slightly too small jacket that smelled like Keith and sweat, and trying the number paper on it’s little string solidly around his waist. 

“Come on, we have five minutes for you to warm up before we’re disqualified. Pidge, go tell the judge we’re coming. Hunk, led Rouge. I’m going to go get the first course.”

Rouge moved hesitantly under Lance. She was tense, glancing at Keith over and over again. Shiro obediently carried Keith along beside his horse, making their whole party that much more ridiculous. “You need to calm her, Lance,” Keith began. 

“What exactly happened out there?” Lance shot back, softening it into a question at the last second. Keith took a deep breath. Then, “Rouge is afraid of water. Not drinking water, but lakes. And streams. I can’t take her on some trails. She doesn’t like being washed, and she doesn’t like the rain. We’re working on it. I can’t be sure but-- Screw it, I’m sure. Somebody from Zarkon shot a hose at her face from between the slats of the seating as we were going over the final jump. She spooked and threw me.”

“Lotor,” Lance responded quietly. “Maybe. Yes. Probably? I don’t know,” Keith winced as they entered the arena and the air changed in temperature. “YOU NEED TO TELL SOMEBODY! Lance burst out. “Who, Zarkon? One of his judges? He’d never accept my allegation, even if he SAW lotor do it. You’re just going to have to keep her steady through that corner,” Keith continued on, “she might be anxious there but Lance…. You have to make her confident.”

Lance took as shuddering breath as he left them to warm up. Keith was saying confidence but…. Oh who was he kidding. Keith Kogane had been the one that had taught him to be fearless in the saddle. 

**

“It’s hunter, nobody cares what you look like, Lance,” Allura said, none the-less fussing over his appearance, “now let’s go over the course again--”

“I’ve got the course, Allura. I’ve also got stupid second hand breeches. I look like a patched up little kid. And everybody’s gonna be staring at me….”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Keith demanded. “Yes,” Lance defended hotly, “and Rouge! She’s all dusty and her braids are coming out and--!” 

Keith put a hand on his knee, wincing as he stood only on his good leg, leaning on Shiro for support. He forced Lance to look at him. He was covered in dust from the ring, the grime on his face cut by twin tear tracts. His face was flushed with the heat of the summer day and the strain of the pain from his fall. Without his jacket, he was left in only a sweaty tee shirt awkwardly tucked into his pants.“Stop worrying,” Keith instructed, “She’s beautiful, you’re beautiful.”

“You too,” Lance blurted back without thinking. Lance’s own eye’s widened as he realized what he’d just said. 

The speakers crackled to life. “WE WILL BE CONTINUING ON, WITH A NEW RIDER FROM VOLTRON STABLES TAKING OVER FOR KEITH KOGANE. NAME OF…. LA--? LACY MCCLICK.”

Pidge stifled a loud laugh, and quietly giggled, “close enough.”

Lance looked dead ahead Axca entered the ring, and said nothing to Keith. Keith said nothing back. 

Axca finished, with a good time, but not a brilliant one. “She’s gunning for third, maybe second without Keith,” Allura whispered. Lance took a deep breath and urged Rouge forward. 

They entered the starting gates at a trot, he squeezed, and they were at a canter. “Quiet, girl, nice and easy. Let’s make those steps long and fast. ” Too fast. Too crazy. Not control. She was frightened. 

That was frightening-- no. Lance had to be confident. “C’mon girl, if you don’t elongate that stride how’re they gonna see how pretty your canter is? That’s it. Nice and quiet. Let’s slide on through.” They approached the first jump, and Lance prepared, balancing his hands on either side of her braided mane. This jump was twice as high as anything he’d ever done. 

He urged he forward, just like he and Keith did in practice. With the squeeze of his legs, and the tone of his voice. “Gettup.”

They sailed over the first jump with hardly a jostle, and Lance laughed aloud in shock. They took the next curve, perhaps slightly too fast, but Rouge was urging him forward, and he was moving with her. He needed to facilitate, but she could put on the gas. 

He let her have a fraction of an inch more rien. “Okay, girl. Let’s go. Gettup!”

They flew over the two jumps together, settled into a mutable rhythm that calmed Lance’s nerves until he felt that he was sat atop everything, moving with Rouge and around the ring. 

Keith and Allura were both calling things in the background. 

“Okay, girl, last two. Let’s go fast.” He gave her another quarter inch of the reins and she took the final jumps at thundering pace. 

When they crossed back out of the arena Lance had to practically shout at her to slow to a stop. 

The team crowded him, speaking all over one another. “Lance! You didn’t lose control! You went the whole way--” “You looked so good--” “Beat Acxa’s time by seconds but--” “You and Rouge--”

“Am I in first?” Lance huffed, looking around wildly, “Do you think Lotor can beat that time?” Keith grabbed his knee, entirely focused. “I didn’t break my best time, but it’s pretty much tied with Lotor’s.”

Lance couldn’t speak. He threw himself onto Rouge in a hug. 

**

“Lotor’s time on this was two seconds faster than yours, but that’s nothing in hunter. You’re tied. You’re tied,” Allura insisted. “But he just rode two seconds faster!” Lance responded. 

“Yes, but you don’t need to be doing the math, McClain. You have one more course left, and it’s the hardest of this trio. I need you to focus on doing your best, and going as fast as you and Rouge can go.”

“Keep working on that frame,” Keith added, “you haven’t let it slip yet. I trust you to do this. But I need you to sit tall and keep her in check. Keep her confident, Lance.”

Axca knocked the second to last jump over as he spoke, nearly cracking it. “You’ve got this, Axca’s disqualified. It’s you, and Lotor,” Pidge whispered. 

Lance picked up a trot, entering the ring. He urged Rouge forward again, and they found the same flying beat as before. 

First jump. Turn. Second jump. Third jump. Turn on a dime. 

He lost speed around the second turn, and he squeezed Rouge forwards, urging her faster to make up for it. He gave her a half-inch more rein, and she fumbled a step. 

Wrong corner to give her some control. This was the corner she got sprayed in. 

She reared her head, yanking the reins away from Lance. “Easy girl, it’s alright.” He fumbled for this reins, catching her braids instead and cursed under his breath. The approached the next jump, him directing her with his body. He could grab the reins and two-point and jump all at the same time, right? If he pulled her out of the jump, he’d be disqualified, and it would all have been for nothing. 

He was useful, he was just as good as the other riders. He could do this. 

“Gettup!” He grabbed her mane, abandoning the reins and prayed.

She must’ve sensed his fear. He couldn’t fool her, though he wished desperately that he could. She reared in front of the jump turning sideways, and with no reins and no real grip, Lance tumbled off her and to the hard-packet dirt ground. 

His vision blurred. He reached out for Rouge. 

Everything went quiet, then dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you guys so much for the comments and support :) they keep this fic alive   
> I'm still taking fic requests so hmu


	7. The Aftermath of the Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance had survived hospitalization only to be killed by Keith Kogane’s death stare.
> 
> **
> 
> QUICK REMINDER OF THE MCCLAIN KIDS:  
> Sofia: 7, baby of the family, wants to be a veterinarian, thinks Lance is really cool (plot twist he's not, he's a huge dork)  
> Novia: 11, likes sports (especially soccer), wants to be taken seriously, secretly likes playing toys with Sofia, wears oversized sweatshirts and spends too much time on her hair  
> Maria: 13, tomboy, skateboards, anxiety, into comics, a cool cat maybe i'll actually write her in idk yet  
> (Ede)Lira: 15, really shy, history nerd, loves Lance but thinks he's too loud  
> Isabella: 19, survivalist nut, engineering major, very opinionated but also kinda shy and awkward, pretty much Lance's best friend  
> Camila: 21, firefighter, not filter, baddass, will fight anyone, dresses very girly/ spandex-y while not on duty, taught Lance to punch, terrible cook, protects all the McClain kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo very not edited but I realized I left it on a very big cliff hanger and I wanted to update!  
> Thank you sooooooooo much to the people who have commented nice things :)  
> **  
> Also: yes, keith has a reason for being a lil bit of an asshole here, he is dealing with many f e e l i n g s  
> Also who wants to guess who i'm writing in as Shiro's veterinary friend :)

Lance had survived hospitalization only to be killed by Keith Kogane’s death stare.

It was ceiling he saw first as he opened his eyes, for a few blissful seconds, the room was quiet, only the gentle hum of the AC unit, and the beep beep of equipment down the hall. The cuttingly sharp smell of disinfectant could be overlooked by Lance, due to the sticky sweet drowning feeling that clued him into just how much pain-killer was in his bloodstream. 

And then he tried to turn his head. The movement made Lance nauseous and he swallowed thickly, blinking several times. Shiro was in the chair next to Lance’s bed, asleep. Maria was sat on the floor, reading a comic book. He could hear both his mother and Allura’s voices quietly whispering back and forth from the hallway. And sat in the window ledge, staring out into the sunrise view beyond the open blinds, was Keith.

Lance coughed, and Keith, with his ridiculous spidey-sense eagle hearing, was the only one to turn to him. Lance wanted to ask what happened to Rouge, he wanted to ask what had happened to him. He wanted to make sure that everybody else was alright. Instead his morphine muddled mouth slurred out, “Keith! My main mulleted man!” 

Keith stood abruptly, too abruptly, he had to catch himself on the crutches he had, and the unsteady movement made Lance nauseous and woke Shiro. “The hell is wrong with you McClain!” Keith burst out, “do you realize how stupid--!!” 

Allura ran into Lance’s view, as Lance shied away from the noise. Allura pushed Keith back and away from Lance’s bed, and Maria hopped up, scrambling up to Lance’s side.  
“Keith!” Shiro shouted, standing with both feet on the ground, hands on his hips. Even Keith quieted upon seeing the-hands-on-hips-of-authority. Keith took a breath, face red, and looked past Shiro to Lance. 

Lance just blinked back at that death stare, mind blank, struck silent in the same way he’d been meeting Keith on his first day at the farm. After a moment of silence from Lance, Keith looked down at the floor, his jaw clenched. “Whatever,” he mumbled, shouldering past Allura and swinging awkwardly forwards on his crutches and out the open door. Even in his current circumstance, he made his storm out impressive. 

Through all this his mother stayed silent and patient, her trademark, but as he left she came to rest a hand on Lance. He rolled onto his back. She ran a hand lightly over his hair, and murmured, “you made us so worried, sol chico.”

“Sorry, mama.” 

“Don’t apologize, Lance. Do you remember what happened?”

As she spoke, Lance felt himself breath easier. His mama was his comfort, and he wasn’t worried about Shiro or Allura teasing him for holding her hands tightly. “I…. Fell off Keith’s horse, I wasn’t confident enough preparing and we didn’t make the jump. I guess I hit my head,” he craned his neck to see Shiro, “is Rouge alright?” 

“Just fine,” he assured, “Hunk took her back to the stables, and a old veterinary friend of mine is coming this morning to assess her for damage and make sure she’s 100% okay.”

“Oh okay…. Good, I’m glad. You should make sure Keith can go see her, that would help him calm down a bit--” “I think you need to worry more about yourself, Lance,” Shiro countered. “Oh, I’m okay,” Lance said quickly, out of habit, “Keith seems really upset though--”

“Lance, you’re LITERALLY in a hospital bed!” Shiro reprimanded, exasperated. Lance looked down at himself. “Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right. Wait…. Me and Rouge were disqualified, right?” Shiro said nothing, but nodded. “So Lotor won the division then? That…. That’s why Keith is upset with me.”

“Stop worrying about Keith,” Maria interjected, insightful (and pushy) little angel she was, “you’re the one with the banged up head, dummy.”

In the doorway, Allura was motioning to a nurse that Lance was awake. 

“You remember the ambulance?” His mother pressed, and Lance frowned, shaking his head. “No,” he said worriedly, “I don’t remember, I guess I blacked out, hun. Was I really out that long? Wait…. What day is it?!”

“It’s monday morning, sol chico,” his mother assured, pushing him back down onto the bed, “you’ve only been asleep for the night…. all night. They didn’t know how badly you were hurt, and they gave you some pretty powerful painkillers.”

“Is your pain killed?” Maria asked, flicking him experimentally in the chest. Lance pretended to gasp in shock, “it’s so cured!” He announced, “I didn’t feel a thing, Mari!” She giggled, “the nurse said you probably have a concussion, Lancey, so now at least you have an excuse for being a dummy.”

“Hey--!” 

The nurse cut him off by entering the room. 

“Goodmorning, Ms. McClain, Lance,” she sat down next to the bed, “you took quite the tumble yesterday, how are you feeling?” 

“Kinda like I just went through the tumble dry in a washing machine, kinda like I’m currently on ten metric tons of morphine,” Lance responded, glad of the fact that he was gradually becoming more fluent. The nurse laughed a half-laugh and motioned with her little packet of notes to his head, “that noggin of yours got real banged around. The good news is that you don’t have any serious damage, I’m going to check your eyes in a moment, but I already know that you have a concussion on your hands.”

She bustled around to the nearby desk for a penlight, “all things considered however, it’s not currently looking like it’s as bad of a concussion as it could’ve been. That being said Mr. McClain, whatever kind of stunt you were attempting yesterday-- as a doctor I would advise you not to attempt it again.”

“He wasn’t pulling any kind of stunt,” Maria defended, holding Lance’s arm, “he was riding a horse over jumps.” The nurse regarded the pair of them, before finally saying, “well in that case, I’d advise that you pick a new person to supervise you on that horse, Mr. McClain.” Allura stiffened, as the nurse shone her little penlight into each of Lance’s eyes. Without even looking, Lance could tell Shiro was putting an arm around her, begging her silently not to fight the nurse. Lance could picture Shiro’s face, it was his pleas-don’t-fight-this-person face. 

The nurse mumbled something inaudible and scribbled down a few notes, before nodding and heading from the room. 

After a quite frankly ridiculous amount of paperwork and hushed conversations, all of which Ms. McClain handled with ease and patient, Lance was being handed a cheap pair of sunglasses, helped out of the bed and into the waiting room, and then ushered out of waiting room and to Camila’s idling truck. 

His older sister’s well-worn ford smelled like various perfumes and gym socks, but she pulled him into a fierce hug and helped him squish into the front seat bench and he felt calm. Maria wiggled into the middle spot, holding Lance’s hand and rubbing her thumb in tiny circles. 

Ms. McClain swung up into the backseat as Camila started the engine. Between the hum of the car and the whistle of old windows, Maria had to lean into Lance to whisper with him. “Tell me about the ambulance,” he asked. 

She hummed thoughtfully, “well I didn’t get to see it, I came to the hospital later, with Mama, but your friends Keith and the tall princess-y one….. Allura, they went in the ambulance with you. I’m sad you don’t remember it because being in a real ambulance would be a w e s o m e--” she paused to look at him accusingly, for being unconscious during the apparently crucially cool part of the whole story, and then continued, “--maybe you can ask one of your friends what it was like. Anyway, they had to take you into the hospital on one of those moving bed things-- stretchers-- which made the whole thing seem like a bigger deal than it was, and everybody was worried. Apparently they gave you too much morphine or something because you kept waking up but you were really sleepy, y’know. Like you weren’t really there. Like sleepwalking or something.”

“Did I…. Say anything?” Lance asked. “Yeah, just weird stuff. You talked about the hamster we used to have when we were little and about a blue horse, and a gate that swung the wrong way for too long. You talked about our old house with dad, and then about how the ceiling light looked like an alien ship. None of it made any sense, dummy. But then mama made Camila come pick me up at 11:00 because it was “way past my bedtime on a school night”, which didn’t mean ANYTHING because she let me skip school today, but anyway, Allura and Shiro went somewhere, and I think Allura wanted to sleep in the waiting room, but she kept crying so eventually they left, and then came back early in the morning like me and Camila. And of course mama stayed in your room all night in the big armchair, and so did the scary friend-- Keith?” 

“Keith stayed all night?” Lance whispered back incredulously. Maria crinkled her nose, “yeah, I think Shiro tried to make him leave with him and Allura, but he just wouldn’t go.” Lance’s stomach did a backflip. “But why would he stay, he seemed so MAD at me.” Maria shrugged, “he kept arguing with Allura about whose fault it was, he kept saying it was his own fault. It was his crazy horse I guess.”

Lance’s stomach sank, “oh, he felt guilty.”

The crunched into the gravel driveway, and Lance was greeted by grabby sister arms practically yanking him out of the car. “Lancy Lance! You’re okay!” He took Sofia’s hand, too lightheaded to lift her up like he would usually. Novia trotted up and wrapped her skinny arms around his waist, hugging him tightly before tugging him along towards the front door. “You always take such good care of us when we’re sick, Lancy, now we’re gonna take good care of you. C’mon, Sofia wants to use her Furreal friends vet set to play doctor on you.”

“I’m gonna make you all better,” Sofia confirmed. 

The only person not fussing over him by the time he’d gotten to his room was his Nana. She’d come out of the living room as he arrived home to assess his state of injury, but upon seeing Lance joking to lessen the nerves of his sisters, and to lighten the mood, she shrugged, nodded, kissed him on the cheek, and wandered off to the kitchen to start preparing lunch. 

Sofia and Novia ran off to find the vet set toy, Camila hugged him tightly again and went to go talk with Ms. McClain, Maria excused herself to her room after too much hospital time, but promised to sit with Lance at lunch, and Lira emerged from upstairs after all the ruckus to hug Lance, before retreating to the kitchen to help Nana quietly. Lance was left with Isabella to climb the steps to his room and collapsed side-by-side into his bed as they’d done many a time after bad days, sick days or heartbreak.

“How’s your head?” she asked quietly. 

“Full,” Lance whispered back. 

“Full of concussion? Or morphine?” 

He stared at his now ever familiar ceiling and shrugged, “nah, full of other thoughts I guess.”


	8. some kLANCE for ya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance stared at him for a moment. Keith. His broody horse boy. His mulleted, my-chemical-romance worshiping, horse whispering, snooty show-jumper attituded keith-- was staring up at him uncertainly under dark eyelashes, holding his breath like he was waiting to be told off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is this?? i dont fucking know?? I started this chapter one way but then i ended up going a different way and like ahhhhhhhh anyway here's the Klance you've waited so patiently for

Lance was in the crowded kitchen. Not really helping with the breakfast making effort. But there for moral support. 

Nana and Lira were cooking pancakes, Novia cutting up bananas and Isabella cutting up strawberries. Lance and Sofia were dancing around them, general being distracting and an impediment to the whole process. 

“Lance, your friend is here at the door!” His mother called, in her “let’s just generally call to the whole house and pray the specific person I am looking for comes down to the door” yell. “Coming! Coming!” He responded, handing his phone and its accompanying 2008 Taylor Swift to Sophia. 

“El es el caballo mono corto uno!” Maria added on in Spanish from the hallway. Lance blushed and rolled his eyes as he realized he was headed towards Keith Kogane in rubber ducky pyjama bottoms and a faded old Fearless album tee-shirt. (Translation: it's the short cute horse one!)

“Hey,” Lance said awkwardly, eyes wide. Keith was scowling. Scowling! Why was he at Lance’s house? Just to tell Lance again how pissed at him he was. It was 8:00 am, and Lance hadn’t had caffeine of any kind. He was woefully unprepared in the face of true danger. (Meaning, by that, of course: that if Keith yelled at him, he WOULD cry.) 

“Ooooh, quien quiera que sea, Lancey?” Isabella called from the edge of the stairs. Lance blushed even more. “Okay, ignore these idiots, come with me,” he managed, nodding up the stairs. (Translation: Ooooh, whoever could that be, Lancey?)

Keith said nothing, but followed Lance slowly on his crutches, nodding to Ms. McClain as he passed. Apparently they’d spent the entire night in Lance’s hospital room together, just sitting there, not really talking. It made no sense to Lance, but they were both silent kind of people, so perhaps it was just a mutual preference. According to a later account from his mama, neither of them had slept. Keith Kogane had stayed up all night, sleepless, over him?

He walked on autopilot into his room, Keith following. His room was a hot mess, socks on the floor, drawing supplies spilling from bags, laundry hamper empty-- and floor full of clothes. His desk chair had jackets piled atop of textbooks, and his bed was unmade, covers slipping onto the carpeted floor. 

“Why are you here?” Lance asked, perhaps a bit too accusatory. He didn’t want a yelling match with Keith, but if Keith was here to yell at him then so be it Lance was ready to fight him with whatever he had. 

“Why-- Why am I here?!” Keith burst out in response, “because I was worried about you, Lance!! The hell do you mean, why am I here?” 

Why was he already yelling?

“Stop it!” Lance demanded, whirling on him entirely, “I get it, you’re pissed I messed up the barn name-- and your name-- and now Lotor’s gonna get all the opportunities! But don’t come to my house at eight in the morning, and--!” 

“No!” Keith was reaching for his hands, an action that did not compute in Lance’s mind. Keith and…. Reaching out gently? “No, Lance,” Keith repeated, “I’m not…. I’m not mad.”

“Then why have you been storming out?! And sulking around and avoiding me?! I came by the farm yesterday and when you saw me you were suddenly busy?! And I--”

“I’m really sorry about that,” Keith looked down at his feet, “I was just feeling overwhelmed and…. It’s my fault you got hurt.”

Oh. Right. Guilt. That’s what this was about. 

“You told me not to, and I still rode Rouge, that was my decision, Keith,” Lance responded firmly, allowing Keith to take his hands. “I know but…. I was your trainer. And if I’d just trained you BETTER, made you more prepared, taught you what to do--”

“That’s not on you,” Lance tried again, straining to be serious in his current state of embarrassing pyjama-ige. 

“I know,” Keith mumbled, “I know, I know. I was just…. Lance when you hit the ground like that and you weren’t moving…. I was just so worried about you.”

Lance stared at him for a moment. Keith. His broody horse boy. His mulleted, my-chemical-romance worshiping, horse whispering, snooty show-jumper attituded keith-- was staring up at him uncertainly under dark eyelashes, holding his breath like he was waiting to be told off. 

“I’m okay,” Lance finally said, mostly out of habit, “see? Small-ish concussion but, hey…. My brains were never my selling-point anyway.”

“Lance--”

“Really,” Lance insisted, squeezing their intertwined hands, “i’m FINE, Keith. I’m okay.”

“Don’t do it again, okay?” Keith all but pleaded. Lance had to forcibly remind himself that breathing was important. “Promise,” he assured, “it’s just….”

“What?”

“Well,” Lance looked from Keith’s slightly upturned face to his own shoes, “.... I guess I thought winning would prove that I’m just as useful and talented as the other riders. That it would make you keep me around-- beyond just being Allura’s stableboy--”

“Lance--”

“It’s stupid. You’re right I--”

“Lance--”

“ And I won’t do it again, I swear. Just please--”

Keith grabbed a fistful of Lance’s worn old “Fearless” top and kissed him. 

Keith Kogane was kissing him. 

Lance could feel his feet on his familiar carpet floor. He could smell Keith’s generic fruit shampoo, and the barn, and the wind on him. He could hear the shuffle of a still very full household. He could feel Keith’s forehead bump against his. 

And fuck, he didn’t think Keith had ever kissed anybody before. Lance was halfway between laughing, and melting, and shoving the shorter boy up against his bedroom wall-- but he was just frozen. Frozen breathing in Keith as they broke apart, and then chasing after his lips for a second kiss--

“LANCE!” The two of them jumped apart as the door swung open and Sofia barreled into the room. “What?” Lance demanded breathlessly, pulling his shirt down, eyes wide.

She smiled innocently, “breakfast is ready. Ya era hora, hermano mayor.” (Translation: It was about time, big brother.)

Then she scuttled from the room, the innocent smile turning devilish. 

Keith looked up at him. 

“I have to go.”

“What?” Lance said dumbly, “no, don’t--”

“I have to go,” Keith repeated, eyes still stuck wide like a cornered animal. 

“Keith,” Lance laughed, grabbing for his arm. 

Keith sped towards the door awkwardly on his crutches. 

“Keeeeeeith.” Lance cut him off, grabbed his face, and kissed him decisively. Keith squeaked. Lance laughed and stepped back to look up at him anxiously. 

“Oh,” Keith whispered quietly, then excitedly, “oh.” He finally looked up at Lance properly, cheeks dusted pink and mouth slightly open.

“Yeah,” Lance murmured back, and kissed him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I wrote an alternative version of this chapter too and I might post that b/c really, either one COULD be cannon and the story will continue the same.... I dunno we will see   
> Thank you to everybody who's liking and commenting on this hot mess of an AU i v v v v v much appreciate and I love you all <3<3


	9. The Aftermath of the Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is really short but I wanted to update :) more actual plot to come I promise  
> Yes, obviously this dialogue from this was from "Ross Kissed Me" from FRIENDS (and even if you haven't seen friends you've probably seen that scene)-- I know it's probably been done before but it fit so :)  
> Also ahh blah I'm really happy to be working on this again I just love it so much

The kiss shared between Lance and Keith was a complete and total secret. 

Which was to say Keith had promptly blurted every detail to Shiro, and Lance every detail to first Isabella, and then Hunk, who skyped just yell with. The call with Hunk went something like this: they were connected, and before Hunk could say anything, Lance blurted out “KEITH KISSED ME”, and the two of them continued to make inhuman noises of shock-- much like the cries of pterodactyls-- for 15 minutes. 

Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly), Shiro had promptly relayed this story to Allura, as the two of them were very proud, and Allura had promptly relayed it to Coran, who’d promptly told just about everybody at the barn. And Hunk, for his part, had kept his secret well, true to the code of best-friend-ship. Until Pidge had called and grilled him on it, based on the gossip she’d heard from her older brother Matt, who happened to be the vet taking care of Rouge, and therefor at the barn to hear Coran’s excited re-telling. 

And so now the secret was completely and totally out. Problematically, Lance and Keith were perhaps the only ones who didn’t know how far the news had traveled, and were therefore again dancing around each other, assuming nobody else knew, and that in pretending there was nothing going on between them, they were expertly keeping up their facade. 

**

“Soooooo….” Pidge drawled, perched up on the non-electric fence, “tell me us all about it, Loverboy Lance.” Lance blushed, ducking his head, and looking around to make sure nobody else had heard. “Fuckssakes pidgeon, it hasn’t even been twenty four hours. How fast does gossip travel around here?” 

“Are we talking about the kiss?” Hunk asked casually, strolling up to their secretive conversation, clipping a haynet to the post beside Pidge. 

“SHHHHHHH!!” Lance begged, face bright red.

Hunk grinned at him. “C’mon Laaaance!! Tell us about it, I am READY TO SPILL THE TEA! The kiss had to be better than just your pterodactyl retelling last night.”

“I was in shock,” Lance defended. 

“C’mon, Lance, we all know,” Pidge urged, “c’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” 

Lance paused and shrugged, “well…. I dunno, it was a kiss. Yeah, Keith kissed me.”

**

“I dunno, Shiro, it was a kiss.” Keith blushed not meeting his eyes. He tried to lean nonchalantly against the wall, but kind of rather fell into it. 

**

“Okay, okay okay,” Hunk said quickly nodding, “we want to hear everything.” He set the rest of his haynets on the ground. “Pidge, you have a high vantage point. Is Keith in view?”

“Negative,” Pidge replied sharply. 

Hunk turned to Lance, “now I’m pretty sure I know where this is going, but I have to ask. Does this end well or do I need to get tissues?” 

Lance shook his head dreamily, “noooo, it ended very well….”

Pidge sat down quickly from her perch, satisfied that Keith was nowhere near. “DO NOT start without me!” 

“Okay, okay, okay, let’s hear about the kiss,” Hunk instructed, “was it like a soft brush against your lips? Or was it like a ‘i’ve got to have you now’ kind of thing?” 

“Well, he just grabbed my shirt and kissed me. And it was really intense, y’know? And I don’t think he’d ever kissed anybody before because he wasn’t that good at it-- But then we got interrupted, and he tried to leave, and I kissed him again and then we just kinda sunk into it. I was melting.”

Pidge bounced up and down on their fence seat and Hunk slapped his knee repeatedly for attention. “Okay, okay, okay, okay,” Hunk demanded, “was he like, holding you? Or were his hands, like, on your back? Or--?”

“No, actually, first they were in my shirt, and on my waist. And then they slid up, and they were in my hair,” Lance confirmed. Hunk let out a soft and wistful, “oh”, and Pidge sighed happily, looking into the middle distance. 

**

“.... And, uh, then I kissed him,” Keith finished. Shiro sighed happily, nodding. Coran, who’d somehow snuck into the room, asked, “tongue?” 

“Uh, yeah,” Keith replied. 

“Cool,” Coran nodded, leaving just as mysteriously as he had arrived. 

**

“Wait,” Pidge said suddenly, ruining their contemplation of the kiss™, “has Shiro given you the TALK yet?”

“What talk?” Lance asked innocently. 

Hunk grimaced. “The Dad Talk™. God rest your soul, I’ll pray for you.”

As he spoke, Shiro rounded the corner. Pidge stood up on their fence post on red alert. 

“Lance,” Shiro called happily, “can I speak with you for a moment?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking requests for Voltron fics :)


	10. here: have some mORE klance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith’s impulsiveness wasn’t really a surprise-- or a problem, in Lance’s eyes. “Because I’m faster than you,” Keith murmured back, “you want me to teach you how to go fast, McClain?” 
> 
> Lance nodded, too distracted to roll his eyes, and pulled Keith back into him, his hands working on undoing the bun in Keith’s hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally just some more Klance I had more plot I was gonna do but this ran away from me i'll do the plot in the next chapter  
> **  
> <3 also big thanks to everybody who's commented you keep this fic alive and I love you all <3

The days had been cooling, as though august was teasing the idea of fall before the final summer show. But as Lance rolled out of bed two days and exactly 41 hours and 26 minutes after Keith Kogane had kissed him, he could tell it was going to be the very hottest day of August. 

And so he pulled on shorts and a tank top, threw a water bottle into his backpack, and went to beg Camila for a ride because her car had air conditioning and Isabella’s did not. When he opened the door to her room, allowing a crack of light to filter in from the hallway, she groaned angrily at him that it was a saturday, the first she’d had off work in a while. 

“But hermana I looooooove you,” Lance tried. She threw a pillow at him fast enough to leave a mark and he scuttled away. 

And that’s how he ended up getting dating advice from Isabella and melting of heat stroke for the 20 minute drive to the barn. “I’ve already gotten a talk from Shiro,” he whined at her. “Ooh, what did he say?” Isabella teased. 

“He asked me what my intentions were with his brother,” Lance mumbled. 

Isabella broke into a fit of giggles, and he had to glare at her until she focused back on the road. “You’re one to be laughing about my relationship!” Lance squeaked, shoving her, “have you talked to that cafe girl yet? What’s her name? Oh: ~Axca~”

“Axca, axca, axca, Isabella looooves you,” Lance sang, pretending to roll down his window to sing it to the whole town. Isabella screeched indignantly and hit him with the one hand she didn’t need on the wheel. “Bella and Axca, sitting in a tree--” Lance begun. 

As they neared the stables, Lance attempted to check his reflection in her beat up rearview mirror, sure that his hair was gross by now with the heat. She promptly parked, and kicked him from the vehicle, grinning. 

“Good luck with Keeeeiiiiiith,” she sang, peeling away. 

Red faced, Lance looked around to make sure nobody had seen. Thankfully, the only person within earshot was Pidge, who rolled her eyes. 

“Hey, Pidgeon,” he attempted to say normally, even as she doubled over with laughter, “have you seen Keith?” 

“Back field, mind melding with his horse,” they finally managed. “What?” Lance asked. 

“Him and Rouge are cuddling.”

**

Lance picked his way to the back field, ignoring the cross-cross-y web of footpaths and opting for a more direct route: under and over fences, through paddocks, squeezing between fence posts and trees. 

When he finally ducked under the fence surrounding the back field he spotted Rouge instantly. She turned her head towards him and seemed to look him over once, before whinnying. She didn’t look upset, or apprehensive to see him. 

He then spotted the mop of dark hair, and the lean framed boy standing behind the horse. His arms were bare in a tank top, and his hair-- Lance asked his local deities for strength-- his hair was pulled back into a messy little bun, pieces of it falling out and framing his face. 

Lance attempted to say: “hey there” in a suave voice, but what came out was “h-hey”. 

Keith looked up, and smiled a shy but blinding smile. “Hey, Lance.”

“You, um, you were kinda avoiding me yesterday. Were you just busy, or did I--”

“Oh, no, um.” Keith blushed to the tips of his ears, visible for once from under the mullet. “I was waiting to see if Shiro said anything horribly embarrassing to you.”

Lance laughed. “No, nothing too bad. A little bit of “what are your intentions with my son”, wanted to know if I expected a dowery.” Lance joked. 

Keith blushed even more violently, and turned his attention to Rouge. “She’s going to be fine,” Keith mumbled, “how about you? How’s your head?”

Lance jokingly felt for his head with his hands. “Seems fine, still up there on my shoulders. How’s your ankle?”

Keith lifted his leg for Lance’s inspection. “Doing fine, I’m off my crutches,” he responded happily. He went to wiggle his foot for show, but winced, and set it down gently. “Isn’t it a little early for you to be off crutches,” Lance demanded. 

“Well, yeah, but…. The sooner I got off the crutches, the sooner I could get back into the saddle,” Keith mumbled sheepishly, “I’m going crazy being unable to ride.”

“Speaking of your invalid foot,” Lance mumbled, “the final show of the summer is in two weeks, and I want to ride Blue.”

Keith spluttered for a moment. “Are-- are your serious?!”

Lance looked up at him with big eyes, and Keith put a finger to his chest indignantly. “You have a CONCUSSION, you have no show credentials, you’ve been riding for all of one summer--”

“I know you don’t want Lotor to win gold,” Lance pressed.

“--there’s only two weeks, Blue hasn’t been ridden competitively since the accident, you haven’t ridden Blue, she’s barely allowed Allura on her and she still isn’t taking well to tack all the time--”

“I want you to coach me.”

“the last time I let you in the show ring you got hurt, and--” Keith stopped, out of breath. They’d been circling closer and closer to one another, the energy of the argument that wasn’t even really an argument sparking back and forth between them like the space between a broken circuit. 

Lance wanted to close the gap, to lean forward and-- 

Keith was kissing him again, pulling him behind Rouge, so they were mostly out of view from the rest of the farm, and Lance was laughing, breaking the kiss without meaning too. “How come you always have to be the first one off the jump, hmm?”

Keith’s impulsiveness wasn’t really a surprise-- or a problem, in Lance’s eyes. “Because I’m faster than you,” Keith murmured back, “you want me to teach you how to go fast, McClain?” 

Lance nodded, too distracted to roll his eyes, and pulled Keith back into him, his hands working on undoing the bun in Keith’s hair. 

“Lance McClain!!” They jumped apart, and for a moment Lance’s heart pounded, thinking Allura Altea was right beside him. But no, her voice just travelled clear across the property, as it always did when she was upset. “I still employ you, do I not?! I do think your shift started about a half hour ago!”

Lance looked wide-eyed at Keith, then ducked his head and ran over to the gate of the back field, waving. “Yeah! Sorry!” 

Keith came trotting up behind him, hair a mess. Allura looked at them both, and they both wondered if they were sufficiently fooling her, or whether she knew. Unfortunately, neither of them knew that she already knew everything, and was struggling to hide a smile. 

“Lance, you have two hours of work this morning,” she said crisply. “Two hours,” he responded, not even attempting to hide his disappointment. “Indeed,” she responded, “as indeed I am paying you for two hours…. That being said, your work is posted inside on the board. What I’ve assigned you takes me about two hours, but if you get it done in less, well good for you, and you are of course free to do whatever you please once you’re finished.”

Lance looked past her, at the barn where the board was posted, determinedly. “I’ll go with him Allura, just to um, check him out-- I mean, keep him in check,” Keith stuttered. 

Allura turned her smile on him, “sounds good-- oh and you’ve lunged Rouge this morning, right?”

“.... No?” 

“Keith! Rouge is your responsibility! She is recovering from an injury and she needs gentle exercise! So unless you expect ME to do YOUR work--”

“No, no, I’ll lunge Rouge.”

** 

Approximately an hour and twenty minutes later, a very sweaty Lance was stumbling back into the barn, and towards the indoor hose. He punched the air in victory, nearly fell from exhaustion, and then drenched himself fully in cold and clear hose water. 

Keith stumbled in after him, his left side caked in mud. “Hit me with that hose water, Lance,” he managed, looking dazed and tired. The AC blew determinedly from one corner, but the space was still hotter than hell. 

Lance turned, and sprayed Keith with the hose, perhaps more aggressively than necessary, but at least now the boy was clean. “Agh, hey hey hey!” 

“What happened to you?” Lance asked. 

“Rouge could see I was distracted. She decided to be an asshole and take a run at me,” Keith sighed. 

Lance laughed, the sound echoing off the walls and ceiling of the wash stall. 

“What happened to you?” Keith countered. Lance pouted. “It was hot outside,” he defended hotly. 

“Yeah? Let me help you with that then.” Keith grabbed the hose from Lance and sprayed him. The taller boy let out a yelp of surprise. 

Lance stumbled away from him, pulling up his drenched shirt. The poor tank top peeled away from his skin with a suctioning sound, and Lance pouted. “You got my tummy all wet.”

Keith stepped forward, and put a hand to Lance’s waist, running a thumb over Lance’s lower stomach. “I’m sorry, tummy,” he addressed it cheekily. 

This time Lance was the first off the jump. He switched off the hose with one hand, and then pressed Keith up against the back wall with the other. “You’re going to coach me on Blue,” Lance mumbled. 

Keith leaned forwards and Lance leaned away from him. “I’m ready to ride her, Kogane,” Lance insisted, a hand on Keith’s chest. Keith was pinned between Lance and the wall, and his head spun. “I know you’re ready, but I’m still worried about you going into the show ring again,” he mumbled back. 

“I have nothing to worry about, I have the best coach ever,” Lance teased, moving forwards as he spoke. Keith leaned in to kiss him, and Lance pulled back again, shooting big eyes at Keith.

“Fine, I’ll coach you and Blue for the final summer show,” Keith relented. Lance smiled wide. “Now come here.”


	11. ahhhhhhh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yeet

“It’s like…. Keith had all the confidence and NONE of the talent when he first came here,” Allura remarked, and Shiro laughed, remembering. “And Lance has all of the natural talent-- he’s really born for the sport-- but NONE of the confidence!”

Allura sighed and Shiro wrapped an arm around her shoulders, as they both sunk deeper into the little couch tucked away in the barn office. “What are we going to do with the two of them?” Allura mused. 

Shiro hummed. “Maybe they’ll even each other out? Keith has learned to speak slower since he met Lance, learned to be gentler. I think-- and this might be a long shot-- but he might finally be wrapping his stubborn head around the fact that there is more to showing then just winning. You should hear the way he talks about Lance and Blue. He’s not jealous at all, he’s not upset that he can’t ride next week. He’s excited to see them succeed.”

Allura smiled, thinking of the snarky, hard-edged, rash and lonely boy she’d first known Keith as. “Lance has a good shot at winning,” she responded, “he’s getting better every day. He hasn’t missed a jump, not training on Blue or Rouge in a few days. I KNOW a few days isn’t long enough to be a pattern, but he’s riding differently. I think he’s less worried about showing off for Keith, and more focused on doing what Keith says. Helping Blue gain confidence is helping him gain confidence.”

“Still, though, he took such a bad fall last time,” Shiro whispered, he pulled Allura farther into his side, “do you think he’ll lose that confidence once he gets into the show ring?” 

“I don’t know,” Allura confessed. 

**

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, say that name again,” Pidge requested. 

“Acxa?” Isabella repeated, confused. 

The two of them had been talking memes and (when Keith passed by) mothman, all morning in the tack room, seeing as Pidge worked for free and Allura couldn’t technically make her do anything. Pidge really liked Isabella, she was funny, and she was nice, but THAT NAME--

“Do you know Acxa?” Isabella inquired, tips of her ears red. “Yes….” Pidge drawled, “she’s one of Lotor’s crew.”

“Lotor…. Who?” Isabella asked, unaware that she’d just unleashed a bag on angry cats, or rather, salty teenagers. 

“Did somebody say Lotor?” Lance demanded. “We don’t talk about Lotor,” Hunk hissed quickly, looking between Lance and Isabella. “We don’t use that name in my stables,” Allura said gravelly, looking into the middle distance for dramatic effect. 

Keith walked in, and said nothing, his eyes narrowed. 

“So, I’m assuming this guy is kind of an asshole,” Isabella muttered. 

**

“Wow, that guy is a fucking asshole,” Isabella concluded, as Lance came to the end of his rant about Lotor. “Mmmh hmm,” Lance responded, nodding. 

“But Acxa’s really nice,” Isabella insisted. “She remembered that you like ten pounds of sugar in your coffee, I’m not sure that that counts as going out of her way to show an act of kindness,” Lance countered. Pidge giggled, but not in a mean way, they didn’t want to offend their new found friend. 

“You guys could be like the Romeo and Juliet-- sorry-- Juliet and Juliet of the ammateur show jumping world,” said the vet dreamily. He was a tall guy, athletic, with a scar under one eye. He wore dorky clothes-- lots of band tee shirts-- and his pockets were always overflowing with treats. He never failed to make both Shiro and Allura laugh. 

Nevertheless he had just invited himself into their discussion of Isabella’s love life. “Um, hi, who are you?” Lance asked. 

“This is my brother, Matt,” Pidge spoke up, “he and Shiro are old friends, otherwise we’d, like, NEVER be able to afford him as a vet.”

“Ouch, Pidge, I’m not that expensive, I’m still a student--” he laughed. “Oh, I know, you’re cheap,” they teased, “but we’re broke, so….”

“Nice to meet you, Matt, properly. You’re taking care of Blue, right?” Lance smiled. Matt nodded, “yeah. If you have any questions about her..?” 

“Well, yeah, actually, her back left ankle….” The two of them wandered off towards Blue’s paddock. 

Pidge turned back to Isabella. “Look, seeing as you’re Lance’s sister, it is our DUTY to help you get this girl’s number. Even if it’s…. Axca. But promise me one thing.”

Isabella nodded, and Pidge continued, “you’re cheering for Voltron Stables next week.” 

Isabella smiled. “Of course.”

**

“Let’s give Rouge a break!” Keith hollered. He been turning around and around in the ring, watching as Lance circled him on his own horse, taking each of the jumps with shaking but beautiful concentration. 

Lance looked over him, slowing Rouge to a easy trot but not stopping. “No! I think I can go again! That last one wasn’t centered enough!” 

“Lance! Rouge needs a break, and a cool down. She’s dripping in sweat. So are you!” Lance slowed to a walk for Keith, but still refused to stop. “Plus, you have two hours of work for Allura today,” Keith continued. 

Lance urged Rouge towards Keith. “Shit,” he conceded, “I forgot about that.” The muscles in his arms and legs were quivering, his fingers shaking as he took the reins in one hand and patted Rouge with the other. Keith smiled up at him, a said “don’t worry, McClain. I’ll help.”

Lance gasped in mock surprise. “THE Keith Kogane, celebrity showjumper, helping me with my LOWLY stable chores?!” Keith rolled his eyes, and took Rouge’s riens from him. 

“The other reason asked you to stop,” Keith continued, letting Lance stretch out the shake in his muscles, “is because I think you’re ready to try this course on Blue.”

Lance’s eyes lit up. “Really?!” 

“Yes, really. But I need you to cool Rouge out first, okay? You walk her around a bit and I’ll start on your chores.” Lance smiled down at him, with too much love, so much love Keith thought he was going to drown in it, rooted there to that spot in the ring, with his hands on Rouge’s reins and Lance’s knee. 

“Okay,” Lance whispered. He leaned down and-- albeit somewhat awkwardly-- kissed Keith, before looking around to make sure there was nobody near. 

Keith smiled, as shocked and flushed as every single time Lance kissed him. 

“Alright coach,” Lance joked, “I’m getting to back to work, I’ll see you in bit.” 

Keith hummed and set off to take care of some lowly stable chores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter will be longer-- it's almost the holidays for me, and i'll have more time to write then :)


	12. I've actually?? finished this??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the closure we all need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't update this for such a long time b/c I didn't take it seriously and I"M SO SORRY that's such a shitty thing to do, leaving a cliff hanger like that mhhhh.... anyway here's the closure we all need. 
> 
> Also I wrote this last one in bits and pieces and I kept abandoning it b/c i've not been in a place where I have energy to spare ever (again, sorry) so it's UNBETAED and also might be really inconsistent, i don't know, I'm NOT going to proof read it. 
> 
> UPDATE: I spelled the word "rein" wrong so many times I'm sorry just correct it in your head and secretly laugh at my lack of spelling skills. 
> 
> The whole “fearless” thing is NOT linked to the previously mentioned Taylor Swift album, I swear, lmao. 
> 
> I ended up writing one chapter in 3rd person omniscient instead of just third person limited to Lance, and then I was like “fuck it”: so enjoy this all over the place chapter narrated by like everybody.

Lance was fearless. 

Keith had proof. A small part of his brain dedicated to filing away breathtaking things Lance McClain had done. 

He was planning on showing against Zarkon stables when the last time he’d attempted such a thing he’d fallen from his horse to the hospital. 

He complimented Keith easily these days, with a blushing smile, but looking at Keith with big and honest eyes. Every time Keith complimented him back he flushed from the neck up and looked at his feet. 

When Lotor had torn into the parking lot in his ridiculous car-- bass pumping, friends shouting-- Lance had calmed Blue, dismounted, and stood his ground in front of the car until Lotor had been forced to reverse to peel out.

Lance had taken to wearing athletic short shorts as a solution to the heat wave of the past week. Pidge had made one aside about him stealing Isabella’s clothes, and he’d looked them straight in the eyes and said “no, these ones are mine, Pidgeon.” Nobody commented on them after that, except Hunk, who complimented them. Keith was admittedly a large fan, but said nothing. 

Lance kept the paddock horses, the ones that didn’t play well with others, in check. He let no fear show when he entered to clean or refill hay nets, calm and collected. He was slow with the horses that needed slow, firm with the horses that needed firm. He sang quietly to the horses with anxiety to let them know where he was. He didn’t run when they spooked, but stood his ground. 

One time a new upstart gelding had been harrassing one of the mares, pulling on her mane and nipping at her chin. Lance waited until the mare was clearly walking away from the gelding, upset, before running at the gelding armed only with a rake, and softly body checking him in the shoulder, yelling “consent is important.”

He was never scared with Blue. When she bucked or reared or took off with him in the saddle, he sat tall and breathed through his nose. He’d only fallen a few times in their week of crazy training, and when he did he’d barely let Keith check him for injury before demanding to get back on Blue and ride her out of the mood. 

And all that wasn’t even mentioning August the 21st. 

~Lance’s Perspective: August the 21st~

Lance was mucking out the first paddock. Twiggy had long since been re-housed into one of the fields, Pidge having gotten her manners up to par, and now paddock one held three horses: Trigger, a stout gelding who was very polite to humans but liked to antagonize the other horses; Lalia, a sleek, dark-coated mare who was always trying to sneak up on Lance, (and if she wasn’t playing peekaboo over one of his shoulders, she was most likely having a small biting war with Trigger, raising the energy of all the other paddock horses-- in the bad way). And there was Pagan, a large gelding who had the height and the muscle to be in charge of the other two, but seemed to take orders from them instead. 

Allura had explained to Lance when the three of them had arrived that their owner had recently passed away, leaving all three horses to her niece. The niece had decided to keep them as opposed to selling them, though she didn’t really have the money for boarding, and she didn’t know the first thing about horses. She couldn’t sell the three of them together-- nobody would take all three-- and so she adamantly explained to Allura that she HAD to keep them, seeing as (although the three horses spent much of their time play fighting over nothing) the three of them were inseparable. 

Their original owner had rescued them and brought them up together, and now they refused to but put anywhere but in a paddock all together. 

So Lance entered. He made sure to seem confident for Lalia, to let her know he wasn’t afraid of her. He made sure to seem alert for Trigger, who was always waiting for an opportunity to start shit with Lalia while Lance wasn’t looking. And he made sure to seem unthreatening for Pagan, who had a high startle response. 

He shrugged off Trigger and Lalia as they approached, and held out a hand for Pagan, standing several feet away, his body turned sideways to the massive horse. Lance looked at his shoes, then at Lalia, using a soft voice to whisper something nonsensical to her. 

He used Lalia’s name, then Trigger’s, then finally her murmured softly, “aaand Pagan. Look at pretty Pagan, awake on this beautiful morning….” Pagan approached at his own pace, and nuzzled Lance’s hand. 

As he worked, Lance hummed or sang under his breath, in english and spanish, to let Pagan (and the other two) know where he was. He’d learned early on working with these three that if he couldn’t approach any one of them too quickly. Somehow a song on the radio turned into a christmas carol, and he was humming something Christmas-y in august as he went to clean Bean’s paddock. 

Just as he was reaching Blue, a motorcycle reved, far away. Lance calmed Blue with soothing hand gestures and hushing sounds, the two of them so used to reading each other that she picked up on his calmness immediately. As Blue relaxed, Lance scanned the other paddocks to make sure all was well. 

All was not well. 

Trigger and Lalia were running frantic but giddy circles around their paddock, and Pagan was stumbling back and forth in the center, throwing his head around. He was afraid of the electric fence, he was afraid of other horses going to fast, and he was afraid of the loud noise that had caused the frenzy. So now he was confused and reeling, eyes wide. 

Lance ran for paddock one. 

Allura and Keith yelled in unison from completely different directions: “Lance! No!”

He ignored them and slid easily through the slats of the fence, under the electrical wire, and stood before Pagan, making soothing hand gestures. Pagan reared, wide-eyed at Lance’s sudden arrival, and Lance sang, louder than usual, and the first thing that came to mind. 

“And IIIIIIIIIIIII don’t want a lot for Christmaaas.” Pagan was confused out of his initial panic, and he narrowed his attention in on Lance. He couldn’t understand what he was singing, but he liked his voice, it was calming. 

“--There is just one thing I need,” Lance continued to serenade, stepping forwards. Pagan’s head dropped to a normal level, and he regarded Lance with big eyes. 

“I don’t care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree….”

By the third line of Mariah Carrie, both Keith and Allura were in the paddock, and Lance was running steady hands down Pagan’s flank. “I just want you for my own,” he soothed. Then he turned to Allura, grinning and twirling her, her work boots sliding easily in mud, “....more than you could ever know….” Allura laughed in disbelief as Lance turned from her to Keith, and she replaced Lance in soothing Pagan. 

“....make my wish come true….” He twirled Keith, which worked slightly better, as Keith was shorter than Lance instead of taller. “.... All I want for Christmas….” He dipped Keith in an exaggerated manner, even as Keith squeaked in protest. “....Is you.”

“It’s August,” Keith protested. 

**

The lineup the riders of Voltron stables had been handed for the weekend of the final competition of the summer was absolutely brutal. Pidge and then Lance had the first time slots for qualifying rounds both saturday and sunday, meaning they would be on horseback at 6:30 to warm up, meaning they would load the trailer at 5:30, meaning Lance’s alarm went off on the first day of the August Competition at 4:45 am. 

He nearly cried upon waking and realizing just how heavy sleep still sat in every one of his limbs. There was somehow a horribly big difference between 4:59, and 5:01 am. Just visually seeing a four in the place of the hour made the clock seem wrong, and his stomach feel sick. 4:45 was practically the middle of the night, it was practically the night before. He and Isabella sometimes stayed up until 4-something am. Granted, he’d set the first alarm for quarter until 5:00 so he would have 15 minutes to wake up, and so he lay there spitefully, and angry at himself, as the very first birds chirped and the sun refused to rise for fifteen minutes. 

His phone buzzed insistently. 

Oh for god’s sakes. 

“Whoever the fuck thinks it’s okay to text me at five in the fucking morni--”

The message read: Morning, beautiful. 

From Keith. 

Immediately his frustration faded and puddled into a soft happiness. His shoulders lowered, and he blushed in the dark room with no sun and no lights on yet, just the soft, yellowy glow of the stick on plastic stars that sprinkled across his roof.

“Right back at you, gorgeous,” he mumbled to himself as he typed, “you ready for today?” 

“Already at the barn,” came Keith’s response. 

“Why? It’s 5 am.” Lance frowned at his phone screen, and tapped his fingers on his leg. 

“I was worried, dunno why. Wanted to check on Rouge and Blue.”

Lance bit his lip without thinking, pulling at it until the faint metalic taste of blood filled the corners of his mouth. “Did you go home last night?”

“Yes.”

“When did you get to the barn then?”

“2.”

“2:00?” Lance sighed. 

“Yes, 2.”

“Keith. Are you anxious about the horses? Or me? Like, me falling off again?”

Lance watched as the three dots that indicated typing appeared, disappeared, and reappeared. 

“Both? Mostly you…? I’m just anxious in general?”

“I’m coming, I’ll see you in 15 minutes,” Lance said. 

“Bring coffee,” Keith replied. 

Lance brought coffee, and food, seeing as the caffeine would do nothing to calm nerves. 

**

Pidge bemoaned the early hour the entire car ride there as they sprawled across the back seat of Lance’s car. Keith sat in the passenger seat and sipped his coffee contemplatively. Lance pulled down the driveway and into a spot at the competitive stables on autopilot. When he finally looked up he understood what Pidge was rambling excitedly about. 

This place was rich. Very rich. Money shone on every door handle and gate lock and the perfectly groomed hedges and even the gravel. Lance sighed. 

The three of them exited his sisters car with a communal groan. She was so proud of the thing, and it looked like a pile of rust next to the shiny five-seater trucks raised on their jacked up wheels. Lance pulled the blanket off from around Pidge’s shoulders and threw it back into the car despite their complaints. “If we can’t look presentable, we can at least look like we didn’t just roll out of bed,” he whispered, patting some of Pidge’s wild bedhead down. 

Keith rolled his eyes, wrapping his left hand tightly around his coffee as he rose from the car on his crutch. Pidge pouted, and replied, “you’re right, I didn’t just roll out of bed. I’m still emotionally in bed.” 

Allura’s brisk once over of the three of them finally woke them up. She looked completely awake and glowing with excitement, as always. Shiro trailed her with the riding vests and jackets for Pidge and Lance, yawning. “Hunk came with me at the last minute,” Allura announced cheerfully, “so Pidge, you and I can tack up Twiggy and then I’ll show you the first course before warm up.” Allura pulled Pidge’s set of uniform clothes from Shiro’s arms, and then they started off towards trailer parking, Allura attempting to finish what Lance had started with fixing their unruly hair. 

Shiro yawned again, and handed Lance a vest and jacket his size. “I…. I don’t….” He started. “The jacket’s mine,” Keith said quickly, “it’ll probably be a bit small but this is a real show, you can’t enter the ring in a hoodie and sweatpants.” Lance looked down at himself, blushing. “I borrowed your stuff last time so that’s fine,” he said, bumping shoulders with keith. “You took my safety vest last time too,” Keith replied quietly, “but really it was four inches too short for you, that’s dangerous. You need to protect your spine. This one is an old, old one, the collar will show from underneath your jacket, but it’s your size, so it will be safe.” 

Lance let Keith take the vest and hold it up. It wasn’t black synthetic, but brown, with a leather collar and had multiple clasps above the shoulders and at the waistline on either side. “Whos is it?” Lance asked quietly. Keith smiled, running a hand over the collar, “Allura’s father’s. She always said she’d let me wear it when I was tall enough, and it was safe, but I don’t think I’m gonna get that tall. I know, I know, shut up. I’d forgotten about it until this morning, when she showed it to me. There’s nobody who deserves it more than somebody it fits, Lance. It’s just a vest, it’s meant to protect riders at Voltron stables until it doesn’t work anymore.”

Before Lance could get emotional, or say anything embarrassingly touching, Shiro yawned again, involuntarily. Keith rolled his eyes at his older brother. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Sneaking-Out-At-2:00-In-The-Morning,” Shiro replied, as though the eye roll had been merely a continuation of an ongoing argument. 

“You didn’t have to get up--” Keith replied defensively. “The stables is halfway across town from the university, Keith,” Shiro chastised, “how were you planning on getting there? Flying?” Keith mumbled something unintelligible, but the ending sounded like “but thank you”. 

Shiro sighed and hugged the side of Keith that wasn’t supported by a crutch, “I’m going off in search of coffee, I’ll get you more if I find it. I know you’re not riding, but stressfully watching Lance ride seems like it’s going to be just as energy consuming.” Lance laughed, and Keith thanked Shiro, pushing off of him and leaning his weight back on his good leg. 

“Let’s go tack up Blue,” Lance suggested, offering Keith a hand. 

Blue came out of the trailer suspicious of every new sound and smell. If it were Rouge, Keith would be worried something was terribly wrong, with that level of nervousness, but since it was Blue, Keith was just glad she hadn’t made a break for it. Keith clambered awkwardly into the bed of Allura’s truck, bad foot resting on the metal connection between it and the trailer. He and Lance talked in quiet voices as Lance brushed out Blue, and then set about putting tack on her. 

From the main building and the small outdoor field there was already a buzz of noise, from riders to coaches to audience to judges. Riders and horses were already being called into the indoor warm up ring. 

As Lance was checking all the fastenings on Blue’s bridle to make sure they weren’t too tight or too loose, and yanking down his stirrups, the crackling loudspeaker announced. “Lace McClean and Boo.”

“And this is why we don’t send Hunk, with his best grade in physics and engineering handwriting, to do sign in,” Lance joked, swinging up into the saddle. Keith hopped back down to the ground, and they set off at a slow pace towards the warm-up ring. 

Keith paused before the double doors to the building, and Lance looked back, worried he’d tripped over something with his crutch. But Keith was just staring up at him, squinting against the already beaming sunlight. “Pull down your vest,” he said, and it took Lance a moment to process, and do so, “un-pop the collar of your jacket, and smooth down the hair that’s trying to escape above your right ear.” As Lance twisted awkwardly to fix his collar, Keith pulled down his left pant leg so no skin was showing between his pant and his sock, before placing his left leg back down against the saddle. 

Suddenly, Lance was nervous. “Is it, like, that fancy of an event?” he asked. Keith bit his lip, and shrugged, “I mean, yeah, and I’m just doing what Allura always does for me, but don’t worry, you look great, and you’re gonna do great.” Lance swallowed nervously. 

The ring was already busy. Allura was leaning over the railing to confer with Pidge, and beyond them six other riders and their horses were trotting purposefully around. The jumps were bright white with little colored stripes, and below two of them sat beds of flowers. “Keith,” Lance whispered worriedly, “they have flower boxes, these guys are the real fancy deal.”

Keith just shoved his leg with a shoulder and nodded at the gates, “you and Blue go trot around, make sure you’re close to the walls and not cutting any corners, I want you to make sure there are no problem spots for her along the length of the ring.”

Lance nodded but he wasn’t finished speaking. “And Lance, go get her to stand beside the flower boxes a minute each, to make sure she’s not skittish about them?” 

“Stand beside the flower boxes?” Lance echoed, then whispered, “and what, just look like an idiot. This isn’t just warm up, these riders are all scoping each other out.”

“I need you to be careful and smart, yes stand by the flower boxes to make sure Blue’s okay with them,” Keith whispered hotly back, “it doesn’t matter if they think you’re slow in warm up, all the more shock for them when you blow them out of the water.”

“Is that a bonus strategy for those like me who are predicted most likely to lose?” Lance joked. Keith just shoved his leg again and then patted Blue. “Let’s get a move on, you two.”

As Lance took to the warm up ring, Pidge exited, giving him a grimace of a smile as they passed. Pidge rode on into the adjoining building, walking Twiggy in brisk circles to stay warm. As Lance forced a nervous Blue to stand still next to the first flower planter, the overhead speakers crackled out a start time for rider one in Pidge’s hunter qualifier, “Zethrid” with Zarkon stables. Lance’s attention was divided as he walked a quick circle to the next planter, forcing Blue to face it. 

“Next rider to the gates will be Pidge with Voltron stables,” the loudspeaker announced, and soon Pidge was gone from Lance’s view. Blue whinied, shying away from the flowers. “Lance,” Keith called, leaning over the fence, “focus! Give blue that attention, tell her everything is alright.”

Lance blushed, trying to focus in on Blue, but as he leaned down to whisper to her, a murmur went up in the warm up ring, and those trotting, slowed to a stop as a white thoroughbred came through the gates, riding it none other than Lotor. Lance glared as he saw Keith fumble out of the way of the gate that Lotor had swung open and not bothered to close, but was quickly distracted as the very boy in question swiftly approached him. 

“That’s right, McCloud,” Lotor whispered, just loud enough to be audible to every other rider in the arena, everything is going to be alright. I know sometimes being up on a big horsie can be scary, but don’t worry, you won’t fall. Probably.”

He laughed as he trotted away, rolling his shoulders and heading for the outside of the ring. “Shut it, Lotor--”

“Lance!” 

Lance looked over in surprise and embarrassment to see that it had been Keith to shut him up. Allura and the others were all supporting Pidge, leaving Keith and Lance as the only two representatives of their barn in front of Lotor, and here they were arguing over something, and Lance hadn’t even convinced Blue that the flowers weren’t scary. 

Lance blushed, and glowered at his reins, frustrated that Keith would draw so much attention to him. Voted most likely to lose. He breathed out, focusing his eyes on the metal clip that marked the center of Blue’s riens and urged her forwards into the flower box. 

This wasn’t just about him, this was about Blue too. 

When she was finally snorting in inpatience, flowers all but an afterthought as they tickled her nose, he re-directed her towards the ring, picking up a trot and following Lotor’s smooth circles. 

**

Pidge beamed up at Lance as he entered the ring, smeared in dirt and sweat. “Pidgeon,” he greeted, “you look like you wrestled Zethrid, not raced her.” Pidge rolled their eyes, and replied, “I’m in the hunter-jumper division, McClain, I get to look like trash. But you don’t.”

They wiped their muddy hands on even muddier pants, and fixed Lance’s pant leg, which was again squished up. “You need proper gear,” Pidge mused, “get you some half-chaps and you wouldn’t have to worry about the whole pants, socks, and boots situation.”

“If you’ll recall,” he replied dryly, “I got this summer job to MAKE money. Not spend all of it looking fancy for Lotor.” Pidge shrugged, then smiled, “you look fancy as anything. Allura said so. Now go, don’t stop Blue too long she’s getting fidgety. And hey, where’s Keith.”

Lance shrugged, but had the sense to look embarrassed for being so childish. “I dunno, he was kinda bossing me around so I--”

Pidge hit his thigh. “Ow!” Lance yelped, “what was that for?!” 

“If I could reach the back of your head I would slap you there!” Pidge responded indignantly, “he’s your coach now, and there’s no way you’re making it through this in one piece unless you listen to him!” 

Lance sighed, “I know.”

“Then go find him, you have less than five minutes.”

**

Keith was, in fact, already at the start gate as Lance trotted up. 

“Lotor is in there right now,” Keith said, gesturing him over to the board that illustrated the assigned jumping pattern. Lance caught a glimpse of pure white muscle and long braided hair both horse and rider under shiny equipment, before Keith growled out, “don’t look at him.”

“Hun?”

“It doesn’t matter what he’s doing,” Keith continued, “it matters what you’re about to do, look at the course with me.” 

Lotor exited, they could hear by the polite cheer, and Axca entered the ring. “Lace McClean, next to the starting gate,” the loudspeaker gurgled, cutting through the noise, “in the ring now is Axca, from Zarkon stables.” Lance knew that somewhere Isabella was cheering shyly, and would cheer for him even louder when he took to the arena.

“I don’t think you have to worry about trying to beat that score,” Lotor sang as he passed, wanting attention, as always, “if you fall off in the first minute.” This time it wasn’t Lance who reacted, but Keith, who lunged for Lotor’s boot of all things. 

Lance grabbed him by the back of the collar. “Keith, you have a fucking broken limb!” he hissed, “let go of the man’s boot, it probably costs more than both of our futures combined.”

“You’re right about that,” Lotor agreed amusedly, kicking Keith’s hands off daintily as though he were a speck of mud, and turning away. “Besides,” Lance called after him, at a true whisper that only the three of them could hear, “without his expensive gear, how will he impress the judges? Certainly not with his riding.”

Lotor stiffened dangerously, but didn’t turn around. 

“Lace McClean to the gates.”

“For fuck’s sakes,” Lance sighed to nobody in particular, “it’s McClain.”

“We need to spend less time dealing with Lotor and more time learning the courses,” Keith worried. Lance looked down at him, nodding. “Agreed. But there’s nothing for that now.” He took a final look at the course drawing. 

Keith kissed his knee, leaning his chin on Lance for a moment, blushing but focused nonethless, before whispering, “go get ‘em. And keep connected with Blue. She doesn’t need encouragement. She needs guidance.”

Lance trotted only a step or two before picking up a canter out of the gate, as Keith stepped back. Blue’s head rolled for a moment as Lance hastily grabbed for more rein, reframing her, and focusing her vision on the first jump. The two of them stayed tauntly connected through the first half of the course, but Lance could feel Blue pulling on his hands. 

She wanted more lead, she wanted his trust. He was never going to make it smoothly through the end if she though he didn’t trust her, or that he was afraid. He was never going to make it seem as effortless as Lotor did if he and Blue were grappling that one inch of rein for control. 

He loosened his grip over the final jump, and Blue hit the ground in a jumpy gallop, making much too wide a circle to turn back to the gate. Lance cursed under his breath and slowed her to a canter, but it was bumpy and looked sloppy and only lasted four strides before he was bringing her back to a trot and then a walk and then back to Keith. 

“Where’d that pressure go, Lance? You had good connection over the first jump,” Keith said worriedly, “are you okay? Did Blue fight her way out of your hands?” 

Keith peered up at him. “No..?” Lance mumbled, “I let her have too much rein?” The worried look fell off Keith’s face and was replaced by annoyance. “Lance, what was the one and only thing I said--”

Lance grabbed his hand. “You know more than me,” he agreed quickly, “look, feel my hand, feel that shake. I thought she was going to throw me Keith. I thought I was going to fall off in front of everybody again. I trust you. The next two runs I’m doing whatever you say, okay?”

Keith nodded. “We better get back to that course board then.”

**

Lance barely squeaked into the finals, but Keith didn’t seem to care. As Lance’s feet hit the ground, Blue’s reins were in one of Keith’s hands, his other arm thrown wide around Lance’s shoulders, the crutch falling to the ground. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Keith whispered, and it was muffled into the fabric of Lance’s tee shirt. Lance took most of his weight as Keith hopped slightly on one leg. “At least take your crutch back,” Lance laughed, “you’re crushing me into my horse, come on.”

“I mean it,” Keith said earnestly, “you keep Blue under control, I could see her pulling, but I don’t think the judges could. You two looked in beautiful form.”

Before Lance could properly lift Keith’s crutch for him, Allura was crushing the both of them into an excited hug, and now Lance was truly being crushed against his horse. 

“You and Pidge both made it, I’m so happy!” Allura cried, seeming unconcerned if she made a scene, “You ready for the finals tomorrow?”

**

They’d piled into Shiro’s car and then out of Shiro’s car back at Voltron stables. Lance had left his sister’s car in the parking lot with an apology text to her, saying that he’d pick it up the next day and drive it home to her. He was too exhausted to walk, let alone drive. 

Upon returning to Voltron, Pidge and Lance slouched into the office with their best puppy dog eyes until finally Allura and Hunk sighed and brushed their horses out for them. Shiro and Keith drove to the nearest place of civilization, a cafe, and returned with gatorade and sad little cafe pastries. 

“True athlete fuel,” Shiro joked dryly as he dumped the bag in front of Lance and Pidge who were near comatose on the one couch. Keith sat down on the floor next to them, instantly pushing a gatorade bottle into both of their hands. Allura entered, and announced that chores could wait until after his champions brought home gold. 

Lance sighed in relief, before remarking that he was, in fact, still employed here, and the rest of them laughed. “I’ll pay you your weekend hours if you demolish Lotor tomorrow,” Allura said goodnaturedly, hitting the dial for air conditioning. “Well, you know I really do need the money,” Lance fired back. 

They cranked the AC until they were all shivering and had to wrap up in sweaters and blankets, a cost that Shiro initially objected to, but eventually appreciated. The change was so shocking from the heat of the day that it woke them all up a degree. Hunk made tea, of all things, in the summer, and Keith clambered into the center of the couch to steal some blanket. 

Lance demanded that if they were going to play a board game that he should be on the same team as Keith, seeing as they were together one team in competition, and for a moment Pidge protested about the unfairness of a tag team in the game of Life, before completely nodding off and slumping onto Keith’s shoulder, asleep. 

Shiro asked Allura if she wanted to also be a conglomerate team and she considered it only for a second before climbing into his lap on the floor and shaking her head. “Oh no, Shirogane, we can’t be on the same team because if we were then I wouldn’t be able to crush you like a bug. Watch me aboutta handle student debt with ease.”

Shiro only rolled his eyes, and responded, “now I know where my little brother gets his competitive streak from.” In the end it was Shiro versus Allura versus Hunk versus Keith. Lance watched the four of them move their cars as he dozed off, occasionally cheering on team Keith and Lance (or rather Klance as Allura had dubbed their car), but really provided little coaching to Keith’s game strategy. 

Matt showed up to congratulate Pidge, found them fast asleep, and spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between helping Allura and foiling Shiro, and helping Shiro and foiling Allura.

**

Shiro awoke on the ground, and frowned. This was certainly not the first time he’d woken up on the hardwood floor, the sounds of insistently hungry horses waking up outside, but it also wasn’t how he commonly found himself in the mornings. It took him a moment to realize he’d been awoken by Allura’s phone alarm, and he rolled over to press snooze on it. As he did Allura leaned up from her similar position on the ground to pull him into a cuddly pile. 

He shook her gently. “Allura, we’ve got a half hour to feed and load both the horses and the kids, c’mon.”

“No,” she replied instantly. “Come on, you love early mornings, lets go,” he tried. 

“That’s a blatant fucking lie, and you know it, Shiro.”

“Well, you like mornings more than me Princess,” he laughed. 

“Maybe I don’t,” she argued, “maybe I’m not even a horse trainer at all. Hun? Maybe you’re the horse trainer and I’m a writing student. Can’t I please be a writing student, Shiro, I hear they don’t have to get up this early.”

“Mhh, alright, you can be a writing student, and I can be a horse trainer IF you get up now, Princess,” he replied. 

“Noooooo….” She buried her face into the bedding under them, which turned out to be a mixture of old hoodies and old horse blankets. “I’ll get coffee,” Shiro finally sighed. 

From his other side there was a sleepy but excited, “Coffee?” and soon Matt was rolling over and holding him down with an insistent arm. “Matt, I can’t get up to get coffee until you get off me. 

“And I’m not getting up until you agree to get me coffee, so it looks like we’re at a stalemate,” the sleepy vet replied. Allura curled into his other side, complaining, “if Matt gets to snuggle you, so do I!” 

“If you guys don’t let me get up, nobody gets coffee,” Shiro sing-songed in encouragement. 

Finally, he pried himself off the floor, slipping his ankles swiftly from Allura’s grabbing hands. 

The coffee pot in the office was old, but large, and could easily produce enough coffee for the amount of humans still asleep in awkward places around the room. Allura was snuggled up to Matt-- typical-- and Keith was asleep on the couch with Lance near completely on top of him. The only two visible parts of his little brother peeking out from the enormous team Klance pile of blankets was his face, and his ankle which was thankfully still propped up on the couch armrest. 

Pidge was curled up on top of the couch backrest, sort of in the windowsill. Shiro could now vaguely remember an argument between the three of them in which Keith had insisted he should get the couch due to his leg, and Lance and Pidge had insisted that one of them should, given that they had rode today. Eventually Keith and Lance had leapt onto the couch at the same time, and when neither could claim victory, had fallen asleep in a tangle of limbs, Lance being very careful to only crush the side of Keith that wasn’t injured. Pidge had hissed in disgust like a cat and climbed over them up onto the back of the couch. 

And Hunk…. Where was Hunk?

As the coffee pot clicked, indicating it was finished, Hunk slipped quietly back into the office, shooting Shiro a smile. “The horses are all fed and Twiggy and Blue are in the trailer,” he whispered. “God, Hunk, you’re actually amazing,” Shiro whispered back. The younger boy smiled again and shrugged. “I know.”

“If you take the horses over, I’ll take the humans over?” Shiro offered, “but take some coffee first.” 

“Deal.”

Shiro forced Pidge up first, as they took the longest to get ready. He poured half a cup of coffee, and then nearly as much creme, just the way they liked it, into a cup. Then he pulled them out of bed and carried them to the kitchen. After setting them on the counter and handing them their nearly white cup of liquid, he patted them on the head and turned to Matt. 

Matt was fairly easy to wrangle, and since he didn’t actually have to be awake enough to do anything more than watch, Shiro carried him to the car and tucked him in the backseat with a cup of coffee and a horse blanket. “Don’t spill it in my car, okay Holt?” 

“Go Pidge,” Matt mumbled back, clearly still asleep, “you race that horsie.” Shiro took the coffee and set it on the front seat console. 

“Allura,” he tried next, “princess? Sunshine? Love of my life?” 

“I love you but shut the fuck up.”

“Zarkon Stables is going to win the August Show if you don’t get your lazy butt out of bed and into the arena,” Shiro said flatly. And with that she was upright and Shiro pushed a cup of coffee into her hands, directing her towards the car. 

“Lance,” he tried softly, “Lance it’s your big competition day.”

“Nana, no, I don’t wanna go to school,” Lance whined in response, burying his face into Keith’s shoulder. Shiro stood back, then slid the pile of bedding on the floor beside the couch. “So Lance, I hear that you’re interested in dating my little brother,” he said loudly.

At that Lance was shocked awake, replying desperately, “it’s not what it looks like!” before tumbling off the couch and onto the pile of horse blankets and hoodies on the floor. “Keith, mothman is here,” he whispered loudly, ignoring Lance as he sat up groggily, “it’s not a joke this time.”

“Mothman!” Keith yelled, sitting up. 

“Watch that ankle,” Shiro replied. By this point Pidge had cackled themselves awake, and hopped down off the counter, headed for the car. Keith groaned, and Shiro leaned down, swinging him up onto his back in a piggyback ride. 

“No time for crutches right now,” Shiro said simply, headed for the counter. He grabbed the coffees for himself and Keith in his two hands and turned back around to face Lance. “Come on, Lance, we’re going to be late.”

Shiro felt like a camp counselor as Lance crawled into the backseat beside Pidge in one of his old hoodies, immediately closing the door and falling asleep against it. Pidge saved his coffee just in time and began to drink it. 

“No,” Shiro said, as though chastising a cat, “you don’t need two cups of coffee, and I don’t need to deal with a caffineless Lance. Hold it nicely, Holt.”

At his last name, Matt woke up, snatched his cup off the front seat console, and started talking excitedly about the white thoroughbred Lotor had somehow gotten ahold of to nobody in particular. “.... and did you know that colouring is all due to a genetic fluke….”

Shiro slipped Keith into the front seat with Allura, prayed that there would be no cops on the road, and buckled himself into the driver’s seat. 

Keith looked over at him sleepily as Allura searched the radio for something upbeat to blast loud. “I’ve done my bit,” Shiro smiled at him, “now the rest of today is for you guys.”

**

Lance was riding beautifully. Blue’s gait was smooth, she wasn’t afraid. But she also wasn’t focused. She was tuning in and out of their courses, slowing before jumping in a dangerous way. Keith squinted at the pair of them as they sailed over their last jump and Blue immediately snapped out of her frame, trotting over to the gates cleanly but with her head up and disinterested. Keith tried desperately to think of what Lance could do. He didn’t even know what he’d do if he was in Lance’s spot. 

Lance smiled at him, out of breath, and Keith handed him his gatorade. Lance might place like this, but he wouldn’t win. Not against Lotor, perhaps not even against Axca. 

“Pidge placed first for her division,” Keith informed, “Allura just ran over and told me. She’s over by the other fence now, with the rest of them, to cheer you on.”

“Great,” Lance said, or rather breathed. 

“Feeling alright?” Keith asked. There was only one more course. Keith would keep his mouth shut about Blue’s hesitation, and if Lance got silver or bronze he’d celebrate just the same. 

“Blue’s not happy,” Lance replied, breathing heavily, and screwing the lid back onto the gatorade, “she’s still pulling at me.”

“She’s in a new place, with lots of people,” Keith replied. “No, it’s not that,” Lance huffed, “she trusts me now, I can feel it. That’s not where the hesitation is coming from. She’s worried that I don’t trust her. She’s mad.”

“You just need her to trust you Lance, and you can make it through a beautiful last course,” Keith tried. Lance stared at him until he apologized for his bullshit answer. 

“How can I expect her to trust me if I don’t trust her?” Lance asked, “I’m going to give her more rein through the last course.” Keith bit his lip, the conceded, “fine, but don’t encourage her too much over the jumps with your legs. I don’t want her taking off.”

“Is this a direct order from my coach?” Lance asked, “I can give her more rein?” 

“Yes,” Keith sighed, then smiled, “I trust you.”

Blue and Lance flew faster out of the gate on their final course, Blue’s gait different, longer. As she approached the first jump she accelerated into it, greeting it excitedly. Lance took off the edge of her speed with a sharp turn to jump number two, leaving his upper body level and slack as she twisted under him. 

He urged her forwards and they met the next two jumps finally in sync with one another. As he took her wide through to the forth jump, her canter kicked sped up. Instead of sacrificing the position that was working so well, Lance squeezed the rein with his ring fingers, not so much framing as gently reminding Blue of his presence, and she pulled her eyes down to watch the jump as it approached, elongating her stride again as she measured the distance. 

Yeah, Blue trusted him. 

They sailed through the final jump with a little too much leg and as Blue’s front hooves hit the ground, and Lance landed, his weight in his ankles, he could tell she was pulling fast again. It was a gamble either way, but he knew if he forced connection with her she might end up fighting him, so he only tugged on her reins again, once, twice, unable to vocalize the word easy and instead letting out a quiet “eeee” to her. She slowed, framing for him, looking for the next obstacle until he steered her out of the gates and they slowed.

They had made it look as effortless as Lotor. Hell, they had made it look even more effortless. Take that, Lance thought, stables with a bunch of judges who want not a hair out of place and not a wrong step, what do you think of Blue now. 

“Lance you did amazing!” Allura called. “Blue did amazing,” Lance mumbled in response, trying to sit back and breath. “YOU did amazing too,” Allura insisted. She caught Blue’s bridle as Lance swung out of the saddle. 

Keith beamed at him, a bigger smile than Lance had ever seen. “You don’t even know what I placed yet,” Lance protested, blushing. “Doesn’t matter,” Keith insisted ferociously, “that was gold. That was gold in my book Lance.”

“Thank you, Keith. I learned from the best.”


	13. -----epilogue-----

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an epilogue of food for thought about where our horse kids will go next (but seriously this fic is done, thank you all so much for reading)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lazy mornings with the whole gang in Allura's tiny office kitchenette is my aesthetic. Pidge crouched on the counter with a cup of lukewarm coffee like some kind of caffeine gremlin. Hunk bustling around cooking. Keith still half asleep in a chair at the table. Lance sitting on said table, trying to get Hunk to feed him first. Shiro trying to explain to Pidge how to use a toaster and they're pretending to listen but really they've just fooled Shiro into making them toast again. Matt swinging in on his way to work or class. Allura fondly looking over her cereal at these idiots she loves so much.

The summer was pulling to a close. School started in two days, and for once, Lance wasn’t at all glad. Usually he worked the summers, and was glad to be back to goofing off in school, but this year was different. This year he anticipated waiting around all day to be back here, right where he was now, sitting in one of the big fields with Blue, watching her graze. 

He realized that he, Hunk, and Keith would all be at the same school next year, and were therefore obviously carpooling, so at least he wasn’t going to be losing his busy mornings with Keith’s adorable, grumpy bedhead, and Hunk’s too early energy. They planned on driving the beat up truck Lance had received as a hand me down from his eldest sister, because it had a good radio, but Lance was secretly trying to convince Keith to get insurance to drive it, because Lance could barely control the thing, swinging it’s wide back end around, and panicking every time he had parallel park. 

Poor Pidge still had a year of junior high to go, but he had no doubts they’d somehow end up picking them up at home and dropping them off at their school on the way. Their reasoning was that Matt was a totally uncool ride to school, who always yelled unhelpful life advice out the window and: a) Lance could completely picture that being the truth but also b) that sounded exactly like his nana and love her though he did, he shuddered to think of how embarrassing that was outside of a middle school. 

Lance had gotten a job at the little cafe not too far from the barn, since Allura only needed paid help for the summer, but he only worked a few hours on weekend mornings. Nevertheless this meant by the time he’d walk from the cafe to the stables he’d end up crawling into some small space and falling immediately asleep for about an hour. The others quickly became accustomed to finding him in the strangest of places and covering him with a horse blanket. After a few weeks of this, Keith decided that he really did like the cafe pastries, and would walk down while Lance was on shift, after doing morning feedings at the barn. Then he’d walk Lance back to the barn, and sneak Allura’s key so Lance could nap in the office. 

Allura, for her part, endeavor to pay the kids in tea and adventurous trail rides during the fall, winter, and spring months, for the odd jobs they still did around the property. To Lance especially, she pretended not to have need of her key on weekend mornings when it was in Keith’s pocket and Lance was asleep. 

Lance’s sister had asked out a girl at her university who just so happened to ride at Zarkon Stables. As concerning as this was, the gang was also worryingly invested in her love life now, and were more than happy to hear all the details about their first date. Hunk even baked a cake that said; “yay you got a date even if she is scary”. Then again he also had baked a cake the week before for one of the new border horses knocking over an entire section of her fence into the shape of a butterfly. Hunk could find just about anything to be a reason to bake a cake. 

Lance was called out of his thoughts by the Holts pulling into the parking lot. “Say hi to everyone for me!” Matt yelled after Pidge, “and be careful to--” His advice was cut short by Pidge, who closed the door on him. 

Lance wrapped an arm around Blue’s neck, and kissed her left ear. 

“Pidge!” He called, jumping the fence, “wait up!” They turned, heading away from the barn and instead towards him. “Whadda ya want, McClain?”

“I think the others should be here by now, let’s crash the important adult meeting in Allura’s office.”

Adult meeting meant Shiro, Allura and Hunk being more focused on snacks than Keith’s new crazy idea, and the four of them talking over one another. “Hello, hello,” Lance announced, plopping onto the couch between Hunk and Keith and leaning into his boyfriend, “are there any snacks left.”

Allura nodded around a mouthful of food, and pointed to the snacks on the table, and then to the whiteboard Shiro had newly installed on the wall. On the board, in Shiro’s handwriting, was: “All the crazy tasks Allura has agreed to take on for this month: 1) try and train the new mare who knocked down her fence to the point where she can be resold. 2) rehabilitate a horse from out of town, coming in on Wednesday. 3) discuss Lotor boarding his thoroughbred at Voltron and possibly training here.”

“Lotor wants to do what now?” Pidge asked. 

Allura shrugged, still more interested in her crackers than any of the insane goals for the month. 

“Sounds like it’s going to be a good month,” Lance laughed. Keith bumped his shoulder. “Yeah, and I think it’s gonna be a pretty good year, too.”


End file.
